

Qass 
















PRICE, TfcN CENTS 

May 1, 1893. 

: ^§93, by F. M. Lcpton 


Published Semi monthly, 
tered at the New York Post-Otiice 


By subscription, $2.40 Per Annum 
as Second-Class Matter. Copyright 




Wm. 




i 














































THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


CONTAINING PLAIN AND SIMPLE DIRECTIONS FOR THE TREATMENT OF 
EVERY DISEASE AND AILMENT, AND SUGGESTING SIMPLE HOME 
REMEDIES WHICH WILL USUALLY EFFECT A CURE WITH¬ 
OUT THE NECESSITY OF EMPLOYING A PHY¬ 
SICIAN : TO WHICH IS APPENDED , 

“ ADVICE TO MOTHERS ,” BY 
EFFIE W. MERRIMAN. 


Abscess.— In some particulars an 
3 scess resembles a large boil. There 
, an inflammatory condition, with 
eat, pain, and swelling. The result 
’ this inflammation is the discharge 
£ degenerated matter or pus. They 
iay be opened as soon as pulsation is* 
etected, the same as boils, or the op- 
ration may be delayed until by using 
ot water compresses, flaxseed poul- 
ice, bread and hot milk poultice, they 
ome to a point or head. The matter 
r pus should be completely discharged 
y gentle pressure, and the cavity 
"reely washed out by injecting a mixt¬ 
ure of one part carbolic acid and 
twenty of warm water, and pressure 
exerted by a bandage, when healiDg 
will rapidly take place. 

• Acid Stomach.— A little magnesia 
and water will sometimes correct the 
acidity of a child’s stomach, and ren¬ 
der unnecessary any stronger medicine. 
Fowder a teaspoonful of magnesia, and 
put it in half a glass of water; it will 
not dissolve, of course, but will mix 
with the water so that an infant can 
swallow it. Give a teaspoonful of this 
three times a day until indications 
warrant you in discontinuing it. 

Ankles, Weak.- Bathing them in 
wine-lees will strengthen them ; fre¬ 
quent bathing in salt and water—four 
ounces of salt to one quart of water— 
is also beneficial. Skating, moderate¬ 
ly indulged in, will be attended by 
good results. 

Asthma.-(1) The asthma, writes a 
correspondent, may be relieved, if not 
cured, by the following treatment: 
“ Buy of the druggist five cents’ worth 
of saltpeter, and get also a sheet or two 


of grayish paper, which druggists Imve, 
thick like the common brown paper. 
Dissolve the saltpeter in half a pint of 
rain water, and saturate strips of the 
paper in the water, and dry it in pans 
or on plates. Now roll them up like 
lamp-lighters. When a paroxysm 
comes on, light one and inhale * the 
fumes. If necessary throw a cloth or 
shawl over the head. If the saltpeter 
is very strong it may fuse a little. If 
the paper described cannot be got, 
brown paper may be used instead, but 
the smoke of the former is purer.” 

(2) The following mixture is recom¬ 
mended as a relief for the asthmatic: 
Two ounces of the best honey, and one 
ounce of castor oil mixed. A teaspoon¬ 
ful to be taken night and morning. I 
have tried the foregoing with the best 
effect. 

Baldness. — (1) A gentleman who 
had lost nearly all his hair after a verv 
severe attack of fever, consulted, a 
French physician of great reputed suc¬ 
cess as a hair restorer. The prescrip¬ 
tion given him was a dram of homeo¬ 
pathic tincture of phosphorus to one 
ounce of castor oil; the bare spot he 
rubbed twice weekly, for half an 
hour each time, after the skin of the 
head had been thoroughly cleansed 
with warm water without soap. The 
treatment was faithfully carried out 
about six months; the hair soon began 
to grow, and, in a year from the time 
of following the doctor’s advice, his 
head was as thoroughly covered as 
ever, the new hair being about two 
shades darker than the old. 

(2) In two ounces of spirits of wine 
steep two drams of cantliarides (pul- 





2 


THE FAMILY DOCTOB BOOK. 


verized) for a fortnight or three weeks, 
shaking it repeatedly during that time. 
Then hlter it, and rub up one-tenth of 
the tincture so procured, with nine- 
tenths of cold hog’s lard. Scent it 
with a few drops of any kind of per¬ 
fume, and rub it well into the head 
every morning and evening. 

(3) Hair, removed by fevers and other 
sickness, is made to grow by washing 
the scalp with a strong decoction of 
sage leaves once or twice a day. 

Bath, A vapor.—A vapor bath may 
easily be prepared at home. Place a 
pail of hot water under a cane-bot- 
tomed chair, or if you have not one, 
put a narrow piece of board across the 

E ail; on this the patient should sit for 
alf an hour, covered by a blanket 
reaching to the floor, so as to keep in 
the steam. • 

Bee Stings.—Take a pinch in the 
fingers of common salt, put on the 
place stung and dissolve with water, 
rub with the finger. If not relieved in 
one minute wet the place with aqua 
ammonia. Care should be taken not 
to get the ammonia into the eyes. I 
have used this remedy for several 
years and it has never failed with me. 
It has always arrested the poison and 
prevented swelling. 

Biliousness.—If the victims of this 
diseased condition will exercise due 
care, they need not ransack creation 
for “ anti-bilious pills.” The bile does 
not belong in the stomach, but reaches 
there in consequence of improper food, 
too much of the oily, as butte 1 ', pork, 
lard, etc. The bile is nature's grand 
cathartic medicine, passing from the 
liver in a direction to indicate that it is 
to pass on into the bowels, there to 
perform its important mission. When 
the liver is overtaxed by too much 
labor, or by the presence of too much 
greasy food, digestion is impaired and 
the wfliole system becomes out of 
order. 

If one would avoid biliousness,, let 
him fast, passing over one or more 
meals. As soon as the “ mouth tastes 
bad,” the tongue is coated, the appe¬ 
tite flags—the best possible evidence 
that too much food has been taken— 
thus allowing nature to rally, the ac¬ 
cumulated food to. pass off, and the 
system be relieved. In nine cases out 
of ten this fasting will remove the 
difficulty, save a fit of sickness, and 


{ 


cheat the doctor. An)« quack nostrum 
that will do as much as fasting, would 
yield a fortune to the inventor. Many 
of them, however, if not most increase 
disease, rather than improve health. 

Bleeding, To stop.—(1) If a man is 
wounded so that the blood flow’s, that 
flow is either regular, or by jets or 
spurts. If it flows regularly, a vein 
has been w’ounded, and a string should 
be bound tightly around below the 
wounded part, that is, beyond it from 
the heart. If the blood comes out. by 
leaps or jets, an artery has been sev¬ 
ered, and the person may bleed to death 
in a few minutes; to prevent which ap¬ 
ply the cord above the wound, that is, 
between the wound and the heart. In 
case a string or cord is not at hand, tie 
the two opposite corners of a handker¬ 
chief around the limb, put a stick be¬ 
tween and turn it round until the hand¬ 
kerchief is twisted sufficientlv tight to 
stop the bleeding, and keep it so until 
a physician can be had. 

(2) It is said that bleeding from a 
wound, on man or beast, may be stopped 
by a mixture of wheat flour and com¬ 
mon salt, in equal parts, bound on with 
a cloth. If the bleeding be profuse, 
use a large quantity, say from one to 
three pints. It may be left on for hours 
or even days, if necessary. The person 
who gave us this recipe says: “ In 
this manner I saved the life of a horse 
which Was bleeding from a wounded 
artery; the bleeding ceased in five 
minutes after the application.” 

(3) Blood may be made to cease to flow 
as follows: Take fine dust of tea and 
bind it close to the w’ound—at all times 
accessible and easily to be obtained. 
After the blood has ceased to flow 7 , laucl¬ 
an um may be advantageously applied 
to the wound. Due regard to these 
instructions would save agitation of 
mind, and running fur the surgeon, 
who would, probably, make no better 
prescription if he were present. 

(4) Powdered rosin is the best thing 
to stop bleeding from cuts. After the 
powder is sprinkled on, wrap the wound 
with a soft cotton cloth. As soon as 
the wound begins to feel feverish, keep 
the cloth w 7 et with cold w r ater. 

d5) For internal bleeding put the pa¬ 
tient in bed with the head slightly 
raised, keep the room cool, and give 
frequently a swallow of the coldest wa¬ 
ter or a pellet of ice. 

(6) For bleeding, 

^ * - -5 





f 

j - 

v - THE FA MIL Y DO CTOE B 0 OK. 


rags, burn to charcoal and put it in the 
wound, and no more blood will come. 

(7) For bleeding at the cavity of an 
extracted tooth, pack the alveolus fully 
and firmly with cotton wet with alum 
water. 

• 

Blood-blister. —When a finger is 
bruised so as to cause a blood-blister 
inder the nail, it should immediately 
oe drilled with a knife or other sharp- 
pointed instrument, and the blood al¬ 
lowed to escape. This affords instant 
relief to an injury which may other¬ 
wise become exceedingly painful. 

Blood, To purify*—(1) A well-known 
physician says that he considers the 
following prescription for purifying the 
blood as the best he has ever used: 
One ounce yellow dock, one-lialf ounce 
horseradish, one quart hard cider. 
Dose, one wineglassful four times a 
day. 

(2) Mix half an ounce sulphate of 
magnesia with one pint water. Dose 
a wineglassful three times a day. This 
can be used in the place of iron tonic, 
or in connection with it. 

Boils. — These should bo brought to 
a head by warm poultices of camomile 
flower, or boiled white lily root, or 
onion root by fermentation with hot 
water, or by stimulating plasters. 
When ripe they should be destroyed by 
a needle or lancet; but this should not 
beattempteduntil tney are fully proved. 

Breath, Offensive. — (1) From six 
to ten drops of the concentrated solu¬ 
tion of chloride of soda, in a wine- 
glassful of pure spring water, taken 
immediately after the ablutions of the 
morning are completed, will sweeten 
the breath, by disinfecting the stomach, 
which far from being injured will be 
benefited by the medicine. If neces¬ 
sary, this may be repeated in the mid¬ 
dle of the day. In some cases the odor 
arising from carious teeth is combined 
with that of the stomach. If the mouth 
is well rinsed with a, teaspoonful of the 
solution of the chloride in a tumbler 
of water, the bad odor of the teeth will 
be removed. 

(2) To correct the odor of decayed 
teeth, two or three drops of a solution 
of permanganate of potassa may be 
used in a glass of waiter as a wash, or a 
few drops of the solution may be put 
into the cavity of the tooth on a small 
piece of cotton. A good remedy for a 
bad breath, arising from a foulstomach, 


is charcoal powder in teaspoonful doses 
—a dose every other morning before 
breakfast for two or three weeks, if 
necessary. 

(3) Bad breath from catarrh, foul 
stomach, or. bad teeth may be tempo¬ 
rarily relieved by diluting a little bromo 
chloralutn with eight or ten parts of 
water, and using it as a gargle and 
swallowing a few drops before going 
out. A pint of bromo chloralum costs 
fifty cents, but a small vialful will 
last a long time. 

(4) Take eight drops of muriatic acid, 
in half a tumbler of spring water, and 
add a little lemon peel or juice to suit 
the palate. Let this mixture be taken 
three times a day for some weeks, and, 
if found beneficial, then use it oc¬ 
casionally. 

(5) The best treatment in regard to 
offensive breath is the use of powdered 
charcoal, two or three tablespoonfuls 
per week, taken in a glass of w r ater be¬ 
fore retiring for the night. 

Briglit’s Disease.—Dr. Alex. De 
Borra, of Crystal Springs, N. Y., writes 
that, after years of practical test of the 
milk diet for Bright’s disease, he has 
a long list of cases in which he has 
made perfect cures. Great care is 
taken to got absolutely pure skimmed 
milk, from healthy and well-fed cows, 
and no other food of any kind is given 
after the patient can bear five pints of 
milk a day. Up to this point, and until 
the stomach is able to take care of so 
much, is found to be the most trying 
period in this treatment, but no other 
medicine is given, and hand and hair- 
glove rubbing is daily administered. 

Another correspondent takes excep¬ 
tion to the claim made that no drug of 
any therapeutic value in that disease 
has yet been discovered. In support 
of Ins assertion he, sends us a recipe 
which he claims has effected a cure in 
Bright’s disease, as well as in dropsy, 
in every casein which it has been tried 
during the last fifteen years. He 
recommends the drinking of an infu¬ 
sion of the dry pods of the common 
white soup bean or corn bean. When 
the* latter cannot be readily obtained, 
the pods of the “ snap short” bean will 
afiawer, and even the Lima bean,though 
the latter is of inferior strength. The 
recipe is as follows: “Take a double 
handful of the pods to three quarts of 
water; boil slowly for three hoursuntil 
it is reduced to three pints. Use no 









4 


THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


drink of any kind but this, the patient 
drinking as much as he conveniently 
dan; it may be taken either hot or 
cold. ” 

Bronchitis.— (1) Get from the drug¬ 
gist’s a little good wood creosote. Put 
two drops of it into a bottle holding a 
pint or so. Poftr in a little more than 
• half a pint of Clearwater, and shake it 
well; shake well always before usingit. 
Take a mouthful of this, throw the 
head back, gargle it some time in the 
throat, and then swallow it. Repeat 
this every two hours, more or less, so 
as to use up the liquid within twenty- 
four hours. For each subsequent 
twenty-four hours, use three drops of 
the creosote in three to four gills of wa¬ 
ter. This three drops a day may be 
continued as long as any bronchitis 
appears. Two to four days is usually 
enough, though it may be continued 
indefinitely without harm. 

(2) A simple, but oftentimes effica¬ 
cious remedy, is this. It may afford re¬ 
lief : Syrup of tolu, one ounce; syrup 
of squills, half an ounce; wine of ipe¬ 
cac, two drams; paregoric, three 
drams; mucilage of gum arabic, one 
and a half ounces. Mix. Take a tea¬ 
spoonful three times a day. 

(3) A simple recipe, which affords re¬ 
lief in ordinary cases of bronchitis,' is to 
occasionally suck a small piece of com¬ 
mon saltpeter as you would candy, and 
swallow the .juice. If the case be se¬ 
vere, medical advice should 'be had 
without delay. 

Bullions.—(1) Let fall a stream of 
very warm water from a teakettle, at 
the highest deviation from which the 
patient can bear the water to fall di¬ 
rectly on the apex of the swelling: con¬ 
tinue this once a day for a short time 
and a cure will be effected, providing 
you desist from wearing short shoes. 
The greater the elevation of the kettle, 
the more effectual the remedy. 

(2) It is said that the following is a 
good bunion remedy: Use pulverized 
saltpeter and sweet oil; obtain at the 
druggist’s live or six cents’ worth of 
saltpeter, put into a bottle with suffi¬ 
cient olive oil to nearly dissolve it; 
shake up well, and rub the inflated 
joints night and morning, and more 
frequently if painful. This is a well- 
tried remedy. 

(3) When the bunion is painful, put 
three or four leeches on the joint of the 
toe, and do not disturb them till they 


drop off; then bathe the bunions twice 
a day in fresh cream, and afterward re¬ 
nounce tight boots. Of course this 
remedy will not remove the swelling of 
the bone. 

Burns and Scalds.—(1) Mix com¬ 
mon kitchen whitening with sweet oil, 
or, if sweet oil is not at hand, with wa¬ 
ter. Plaster the whole of the burn and 
some inches beyond it, all around, with 
the above, after mixing it to the con¬ 
sistency of common paste, and lay iton 
an eighth, or rather more, of an inch in 
thickness. It acts like a charm; the 
most agonizing pain is in a few min utes 
stilled. Take care to keep the mixture 
moist by the application, from time to 
time, of fresh oil or fresh water, and at 
night wrap the whole part affected in 
gutta-percha or flannel, to keep the 
moisture from evaporating. The pa¬ 
tient will, in all probability, unless the 
flesh be much injured and the burn a 
very bad one, sleep soundly. 

(2) For burns and scalds nothing is 
more soothing than the white of an 
egg, which may be poured over the 
wound. It is softer as a varnish for a 
burn than collodion, and being always 
at hand can be applied immediately. 
It is also more cooling than the sweet 
oil and cotton which was formerly sup¬ 
posed to be the surest application to 
allay the smarting pain. It is the con¬ 
tact with the air ^liich gives the ex¬ 
treme discomfort experienced from the 
ordinary accident of this kind, and 
anything which excludes the air and 
prevents inflammation is the thing to 
be applied. * 

(3) The following is one of the best 
applications we know of in cases of 
burns or scalds, more especially where 
a large surface is denuded of the skin: 
Take oue dram of finely-powdered 
alum, and mix thoroughly with the 
whites of two eggs and one teacup of 
fresh lard; spread on a cloth, and apply 
to the parts burned. It gives almost 
instant relief from pain, and, by exclud¬ 
ing the air, prevents inflammatory ac ¬ 
tion. The application should be 
changed at least once a day. 

(4) Common baking soda—the bicar¬ 
bonate -has been found to cure burns 
or scalds, affording immediate relief 
when it is promptly applied. For a dry 
burn, the soda should be made into 
paste with water. For a scald or rot 
burned surface, the powdered sm'a (or 
borali will do) should be rusted on. 







THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


Ft 

b 


(5) It is said that charcoal is a sure 
cure for burns. By laying a small piece 
of cold charcoal on the burn, the pain 
subsides immediately. By leaving the 
charcoal on for an hour the wound is 
healed, as has been demonstrated on 
several occasions. 

(6) For burns sweet oil and cotton are 
the standard remedies. If they are not 
at hand sprinkle the burned part with 
flour and wrap loosely with a soft cloth. 
Do not remove the dressing until the 
inflammation subsides, as it will break 
the new skin that is forming. 

(7) One ounce of pulverized borah, 
one quart of boiling water, half ounce 
of pulverized alum. Shake up well and 
bottle. Wrap the burn up in soft linen, 
and keep constantly wet with the solu¬ 
tion. Do not remove the linen until 
the burn is cured. 

(8) Soak a piece of linen rag in linseed 
oil, suspend it from the tongs over a 
saucer, and ignite the lower end; the 
oil which drops from it, while consum¬ 
ing, should be applied, when cold, with 
a feather, to the burn or scald. 

(9) Smear the scorched surface with 
glycerine, by means of a feather, then 
apply cot+on wadding; lastly, cover 
with oil-silk. This treatment has been 
very successful in cases of recent oc¬ 
currence. 

(10) The true physiological way of 
treating burns and scalds is at once to 
exclude the air, with cotton batting, 
flour, scraped potato or anything that 
is handiest. 

Cancer. —(1) The following is said to 
be a sure cure for cancer: A piece of 
sticking plaster is put over the cancer, 
with a circular piece cut out of the 
center, a little larger than the cancer, 
so that the cancer and a small circular 
rim of healthy skin next to it is ex¬ 
posed. Then a plaster, made of chlo¬ 
ride of zinc, bloodroot and wheat flour, 
is spread on a piece of muslin, the size 
of this circular opening, and applied to 
the cancer for twenty-four hours. On 
removing it, th$ cancer will be found 
burned into, and appear of the color 
and hardness of an old shoe sole, and 
the circular rim outside of it will ap¬ 
pear white and parboiled,'as if scalded 
by hot steam. The wound is now 
dressed, and the outside rimsoon sepa¬ 
rates, and the cancer comes out in a 
hard lump,and the place heals up. The 
plaster kills the cancer, so that it 
sloughs like dead flesh, and never 


grows again. The remedy was discov¬ 
ered by Dr. King of London, and has 
been used by him for several years with 
unfailing success, and not a case has 
been known of the re-appearance of the 
cancer when this remedy has been ap¬ 
plied. 

(2) An old Indian cancer doctor in 
Oregon pronounces this a sure cure: 
Take common wood sorrel, bruise it on 
brass, spread it in the form of a poul¬ 
tice, and apply as long as the patient 
can bear; then apply bread and milk 
poultice until the patient can bear the 
wood sorrel again. Continue this un¬ 
til the cancer is.drawn out by the roots. 

(3) Take the blossoms of red clover 
and make tea of them, and drink free¬ 
ly. It will cure cancer in the stomach 
as well as on the surface. 

Cankers.— Those whitish-looking 
specks which appear on the inside of 
the cheeks and lips, may be easily re¬ 
moved by touching them with burnt 
alum. 

Catarrh.— (1) Ordinary cases of ca¬ 
tarrh can be cured by snufling up the 
nose a little table salt three or four 
times a day; but many cases of this 
troublesome complaint' are caused ,by 
inability of the liver to perform its 
function properly. In such cases there 
is often a too alkaline condition of the 
blood. If persons thus afflicted will 
squeeze the juice of a good'Sized lemon 
into a half-tumbler of water, and drink 
it without sugar just before dinner, 
they will, if they live abstemiously, be 
surprised to see how soon the catarrhal 
difficulty will diminish. When it fails 
to do so it may be considered as due to 
other causes. 

(2) The catarrh, writes a correspond¬ 
ent, can be cured by a daily use of raw 
onions as an article of food ; at the same 
time use a snuff made of white sugar, 
laundry starch, and burned alum, pul¬ 
verized and mixed in equal quantities— 
to be used the same as other snuff. 

(3) A most unfailing remedy for ca¬ 
tarrh is to smoke crushed cubeb berries 
in a clay pipe and swallow the smoke. 
They can be procured at any drug 
store, at a moderate cost. Try it. 

(4) Put one tablespoonful of iode- 
bromide of calcium comp, into a tea- 
cupful of warm water. Snuff it up the 
nose night and morning. It is very 
cleansing and healing. 

(5) Burn a piece of alum on the stove 
until it becomes a white powder, and 










THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


C, 


use it as a snuff, and it will cure catarrh 
and is a good remedy for cold in the 
head. 

(6) Take one pint of whisky,and add 
two ounces of sulphur; shake it up and 
take a tablespoonful three' mornings, 
then miss three; so proceed uutil taken 
u p. 

Chapped Lips, Cure for.— Dissolve 
a lump of bees-wax in a small quantity 
of sweet oil—over a candle—let it cool, 
and it will'be ready for use. Rubbing it 
warm on the lips two or three times 
will effect a cure. 

Chilblains.— (1) Slice raw potatoes, 
with the skins on, and sprinkle over 
them a little salt, and as soon as the 
liquid therefrom settles in the bottom 
of the dish, wash with it the chilblains; 
one application is all that is necessary. 

(2) An unfailing remedy for chil¬ 
blains : A solution of thirty grains of 
permanganate of potassa in an ounce 
of pure water, to be applied thoroughly 
with brush or swab, or in the form of a 
poultice. 

(3) Rub the part affected with brandy 
and salt, which hardens the feet at the 
same time that it removes the imflam- 
mation. Sometimes a third applica¬ 
tion cures the most obstinate chilblains. 

(4) To relieve the intense itching of 
frosted feet, dissolve a lump of alum in 
a little water, and bathe the part with it, 
warming it before the fire. One or two 
applications is sure to give relief. 

(5) Put the hands and feet once a 
week into hot water, in which two or 
three handfuls of common salt have 
been thrown. This is a certain prevent¬ 
ive as well as a cure. 

(6) In the evening, before retiring, 
take salt and vinegar made as hot as 
can be borne on the parts affected; 
bathe with a small cloth, and do so un¬ 
til cured. 

| (7) Mix together one ounce of tur¬ 

pentine and three-eights of an ounce of 
oil of sassafras. Apply the solution 
morning and evening. 

Child, Food for a young. —If a 

very young child has to be fed,take the 
top crust of good, sweet, home-made 
bread, soak it in cold water half an 
hour, and then boil twenty minutes, 
cover tight, then beat with a fork un¬ 
til smooth and sweet. This will agree 
with the stomach better than anything 
else. 

Children, Nursing. —Mothers who 


nurse their children should bear in 
mind that what they eat at such a time 
is of great importance, both to them¬ 
selves and to the children. The very 
best article of food that they can avail 
themselves of is oatmeal mush or gruel, 
which is always delicious when proper¬ 
ly cooked. The oatmeal furnishes the 
earthy phosphates and materials out 
of which good milk is made, so that the 
mother’s own structures are not drawn 
upon, and her teeth are saved from 
decay. 

' Children’s Falls.— A child rolls 

down the stairs, or falls from a height, 
and in either case strikes its head with 
force. What shall be done till the doc¬ 
tor comes? We would give the following 
directions, as nearly as possible in the 
order in which they should be adopted. 
Raise the child gently in the arms, and 
carrying to the nearest sofa or bed, 
place him on it—unless crying loudly, 
when he can be soothed quickest in his 
mother’s arms. All the clothing should 
be loosened, especially about the neck, 
to afford the freest circulation of the 
blood to and from the head. To equal¬ 
ize the circulation and prevent inflam¬ 
mation the head should be kept cool 
and the extremities warm. Cooling 
lotions of arnicaor witch-hazel and wa¬ 
ter or simply water should be applied 
to the head on thin cloths, well wrung 
out so as not to wet the pillows and 
bedclothes. Not more than two or 
four thicknesses of linen should be 
used, because thick cloths prevent 
evaporation, and what was intended to 
cool the head acts as a poultice and 
makes the head hotter. Ice and cold 
water should not be used unless the 
head be very hot, as it is believed 
children have been killed by the appli¬ 
cation of pounded ice to the head. 

Bottles of hot water or hot irons are 
all that is necessary, beside the bed¬ 
clothing, to heat the extremities. All 
applications of mustard and other irri¬ 
tants possess no advantage over these, 
and have the disadvantage of disturb¬ 
ing the sufferer. Should the patient’s 
face be very pale, and signs of fainting 
appear, camphor or ammonia should be 
applied to the nostrils, and a little 
brandy or wine be given. 

Then the room should be made as 
quiet as possible and every means used 
to invite “ Nature’s sweet restorer,” 
sleep. We know the popular idea is 
that patients suffering from any injury 







THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


7 


f ■ i — i ■■■ ■ — — ■ —- 

to the head should be kept awake by 
all means; and it is mainly to combat 
this erroneous notion that we are 
prompted to write out these directions. 

No injury—or degree of injury—of 
the head contra-indicates the sufferer’s 
sleeping. In fact positive harm may 
be done in trying to prevent sleep. 
Best is what the brain and blood vessels 
want more than any other thing; and, 
if not allowed, what would have passed 
off in a few hours or days may be pro¬ 
longed into inflammation, with all its 
dangerous consequences. 

Of course the air of the room should 
be kept pure—windows and doors open 
if the weather permit—and the presence 
of persons not absolutely necessary 
forbidden. 

Children Teething, Ice for. —The 

pain of teething may be almost done 
away, and the health of the child bene¬ 
fited by giving it fine splinters of ice, 
picked off with a pin, to melt in its 
mouth. The instant quiet which suc¬ 
ceeds hours of fretfulness is the best 
witness to this magic remedy. 

Chills and Fever.—(l) One-half 
ounce spirits niter, one-half ounce 
tincture pepper, thirty-five grains qui¬ 
nine, one pint of brandy. Take a wine 
glassful three times a day, one-half 
hour before meals. If for a child, give 
only half the quantity. 

(2) If you have chills and fever, ex¬ 
press the juice 3f three large lemons 
and drink it down. Continue so to do 
every other day until the disease is 
broken. We have known this treat¬ 
ment to cure when quinine had no 
effect. 

(3) The following is said to be a 
remedy for fever and ague: Twenty- 
four grains of quinine, two drams of 
elixir of vitriol, twenty-two large table¬ 
spoonfuls of rain water. Dose, take 
each half hour through the day until 
taken up. 

(4) Dissolve fifteen grains of citric 
acid in a cup of hot coffee, and drink 
it just before the chill attacks you. It 
has been known to cure the worst 
cases of this disease. 

Choking.— To prevent choking, 
break an egg into a cup and give it to 
the person choking, to swallow. The 
white of the egg seems to catch around 
the obstacle and remove it. If one egg 
does not answer the purpose, try an¬ 


other. The white is all that is neces¬ 
sary. 

Cholera Infantum.— For cholera 
infantum, the whites of two eggs, well 
beaten; then mix with water; add one 
teaspoonful of orange-flower water and 
a little sugar; a tablespoonful every 
hour. It will, says an authority, cure 
the worst case of cholera infantum, the 
egg coating the bowels. 

Cholera Morbus.—(1) The follow¬ 
ing is the recipe for the celebrated 
“Sun Cholera Mixture:” Take equal 
parts of tincture of opium, tincture of 
capsicum, rhubarb, peppermint and 
camphor and mix. Dose from fifteen to 
twenty drops in four tablespoonfuls of 
water. Repeat the dose every half hour 
till relieved. This is also an excellent 
remedy for any ordinary laxity of the 
bowels, or summer complaint. In that 
case one dose, as above prescribed, 
twice in every 24 hours, will suffice for 
a cure, if taken in time. 

(2) For cholera morbus, take black 
pepper and grind it tolerably fine. Then 
put in a glass a tablespoonful of this 
and a tablespoonful of salt,and fill about 
half full with warm water,then fill up the 
glass with good cider vinegar,and stir 
it up. Now take one tablespoonful,and 
then wait a little and take another, and 
keep on stirring and using it while the 
vomiting lasts. If one glass does not 
cure, try another. 

(3) (Said to be a certain cure).—The 
ingredients are: One glassful of West 
India rum, one glassful of molasses, 
one glassful of spring water, and three 
tablespoonfuls of ginger. Mix them 
all together and take it. It is said to 
afford immediate relief. 

Cold in the Head.— (1) This may 
sometimes be cured by inhaling through 
the nose the emanations of ammonia 
contained in a smelling-bottle. If the 
sense of the smell is completely oblit¬ 
erated, the bottle should be kept under 
the nose until the pungency of the 
volatile alkali is felt. The bottle is 
then removed, but only to be re-applied 
after a minute; the second application, 
however, should not be long, that the 
patient may bear it. This easy opera¬ 
tion being repeated seven or eight 
times in the course of five minutes, but 
always very rapidly, except the first 
time, the nostrils become free, the 
sense of smell is restored, and the se¬ 
cretion of the irritating mucous is 
stopped. This remedy is said to be 





8 


THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


i 


peculiarly advantageous to singers. 

(2) A cold in the head can be cured 
at once, if taken care of at the very be¬ 
ginning. Dissolve a tablespoonful of 
borah in a pint of hot water; let it stand 
until it becomes tepid ; snuff some up 
the nostrils two or three times during 
the day, or use the dry, powdered borax 
like snuff, taking a pinch as often as 
required. At night have a handker¬ 
chief saturated with spirits of camphor, 
place it near the nostrils so as to inhale 
the fumes while sleeping. 

(3) A hot lemonade is one of the best 
remedies in the world for a cold. It 
acts promptly and effectually, and has 
no unpleasant after effects. One lem¬ 
on properly squeezed, cut in slices, put 
with sugar, and covered with half a 
pint of boiling water. Drink just be¬ 
fore going to bed, and do not expose 
yourself on the following day. This 
remedy will ward off an attack of chills 
and fever if used properly. 

(4) When one has a bad cold and the 
nose is closed up so that he cannot 
breathe through it, relief may be found 
instantly by putting a little camphor 
and water in the center of the hand and 
snuffing it up the nose. It is a great 
relief. 

Colic.—(1) For the violent internal 
agony termed colic, take a teaspoonful 
of salt in a pint of water; drink and go 
to bed. It is one of the speediest 
remedies known. It will revive a 
person who seems almost dead from a 
heavy fall. 

(2 ) Phares’ method of treating colic 
consists in inversion—simply in turn¬ 
ing the patient upside down'. Colic of 
several days’ duration has been re¬ 
lieved by this means in a few minutes. 

(31 Dr. Tepliashin has recommended 
a thin stream of cold water from a tea 
pot lifted from one to one and a half 
feet from the abdomen, in cases of col¬ 
ic. He has seen it relieve pain when 
opium and morphia had failed. 

(4) A loaf of bread, hot from the 
oven, broken in two, and half of it 
placed upon the bowels,ffind the other 
half opposite it upon the back, will re¬ 
lieve colic from whatever cause almost 
immediately. 

Colic in Infants. —Infants are very 
subject to colic from overfeeding, too 
eany feeding, constipation, and manj 7 
other causes. They often suffer terri- 
.bly from these pains, tossing about, 
drawing up their legs, and screaming 


vehemently. Treatment .—When it 
arises from costiveness, a teaspoonful 
or tablespoonful of castor oil will often 
remove the defect, and at or about the 
same time give three drops of essence 
of peppermint or spearmint, in a little 
sweetened water. A very little salera- 
tus often gives relief, and paregoric in 
two to five-drop doses every hour, will 
give relief. Hot flannels applied over 
the bowels aud stomach are useful,and 
often the infant can be greatly relieved 
by laying it upon the belly on the knee, 
trotting it and gently tapping its back; 
this must be done cautiously, for if 
unsuccessful it might increase the 
pains. 

Complexion, Pearl-water for 
the.—Take castile soap, one pound; 
water, one gallon. Dissolve; then add 
alcohol, one quart; oil of rosemary and 
oil of lavender, of each two drams. 
Mix well. 

Consumption.—(11 A correspondent 
in Canada writes this interesting and, 
perhaps, useful letter to Chambers’ 
Journal: “Noticing an extract from 
the World of Science , in which a physi¬ 
cian strongly recommends hot water in 
place of tea or coffee as a stimulant for 
the use of those requiring to study late 
at night, I would like to give my ex¬ 
perience of it as a beneficial agent in 
consumption: Mrs.—, one of a family 
a number of whose members had died 
of consumption, was, after severe ex¬ 
posure to a snow-storm, seized with a 
serious cough and expectoration, ac¬ 
companied with a loss of flesh. Ex¬ 
amination by a physician showed that 
one lung was seriously affected. She 
was wholly confined to her room, and 
everything that medical attendance 
and loving care could do to mitigate, 
her suffering was done, but ineffectu¬ 
ally. The depressing night-sweats 
continued, together with loss of rest 
from repeated fits of coughing. Los-, 
ing all faith in medicine some six 
months ago, its use was wholly aban¬ 
doned and the use of nourishing diet 
only continued. About ten weeks ago 
the patient’s attention was directed to 
a newspaper paragraph recommending 
hot water as a remedy for consump¬ 
tion. Feeling that little harm could 
ensue from its use, she determined to 
test it. At the moment of retiring a 
large tumbler of hot vmter, in which 
the juice of a lemon had'been mixed to 
free it from nausea, was taken, In a 







TDD FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


9 


few moments a glow of warmth would 
pervade the lungs, chest, etc., quickly 
followed by the most refreshing sleep, 
which would be unbroken by any 
cough, and the patient would awake in 
the morning rested and strengthened. 
A few days ago she was seized with a 
fit of coughing, during which was 
coughed up into her mouth a small 
stone about the size of a pea—formed 
of sulphate of lime, I believe, and usu¬ 
ally considered a symptom of the heal¬ 
ing of a cavity in the lung.” 

(2) A correspondent writes as follows 
about the liower of a well-known plant: 
“ I have discovered a remedy for con¬ 
sumption. It has cured a number of 
cases after they had commenced bleed¬ 
ing at the lungs and the hectic flush 
was already on the cheek. After try¬ 
ing this remedy to my own satisfaction, 
I have thought that philanthropy re¬ 
quired that I should let it be known to 
the world. It is' common mullein, 
steeped strongly and sweetened with 
coffee sugar, and drank freely. Young 
or old plants are good, dried in the 
shade and kept,in clean bags. The 
medicine must be continued from three 
to six months, according to the nature 
of the disease. It is very good for the 
blood vessels also. It strengthens and 
builds up the system instead of taking 
away the strength. It makes good 
blood and takes inflammation away 
from the lungs.” 

(3) English physicians recommend 
the free use of lemons for consumption. 
It has long been known that they are 
excellent in the cure of rheumatism, 
and, fortunately, they are both cheap 
and grateful to the palate. A little 
sugar only should be used with them, 
and a dozen a day are none too mauy. 

Consumption, The earliest sign 
of.— A quick pulse and a short breath, 
continuiug for weeks together, is the 
great alarm bell of forming consump¬ 
tion ; if these symptoms are attended 
with a gradual falling off in flesh, in 
the course of-months, there is no ration¬ 
al ground for doubt, although the hack 
of a cOugh may never have been heard. 
Under such circumstances, there ought 
not to be an hour’s delay in taking 
competent medical.advice. 

The vast mass of cousumptives die, 
not far from the ages of twenty-five; 
and this, in connection with another 
fact, that consumption is several years 
in running its course, suggests one of 


the most important practical conclu¬ 
sions yet announced, to wit: 

In the large majority of cases, the 
seeds of consumption are sown between 
the ages of sixteen and twenty-one 
years, when the steadily excited pulse 
and the easily accelerated breathing, 
may readily be detected by an intelli¬ 
gent and observant parent, and shou'd 
be regarded as the knell of death, if not 
arrested, and yet it is easily, and uni¬ 
formly done, for the spirometer will 
demonstrate the early danger, and the 
educated physician will be at no loss to 
mark out the remedy. 

The quick pulse and short breath go 
together; rather “ easily put out of 
breath,” is the more common and ap¬ 
propriate expression. 

Contagion, To prevent.— Impreg¬ 
nation of the atmosphere of a sick 
chamber when the patient is ill of diph¬ 
theria, measles, scarlet fever, or of any 
allied disease, with the odor of a mixt¬ 
ure of equal parts of turpentine and 
carbolic acid, is recommended by a 
celebrated physician. Half a teaspoon¬ 
ful of mixture will be enough at a 
time, if it is put into a kettle of w’ater 
kept near the boiling point. The odor 
gives some relief to the sufferer, and 
tends to prevent the spread of the 
malady. 

Convulsions. —Dr. Williamson re¬ 
ports an interesting and remarkable 
case in which he saved the life of an 
infant in convulsions by the use of 
chloroform. He commenced the use of 
it at nine o’clock one evening, at which 
period the child was rapidly sinking, 
n umerous remedies having been already 
tried without effect. He dropped half 
a dram of chloroform into a thin muslin 
handkerchief, and held it about an 
inch from the infant’s face. In about 
two minutes the convulsions gave wav, 
and the child fell into a sleep. By 
slightly releasing the child from the 
influence of the chloroform, he was 
able to adminster food by which the 
child was nourished and strengthened. 
The chloroform was continually ad¬ 
ministered in the manner described, 
from Friday evening at nine o’clock 
until Monday morning at nine. This 
treatment lasted sixty hours, and six¬ 
teen ounces of chloroform were used. 
Dr. Williamson says he has no doubt 
that the chloroform w r as instrumental 
in saving the infant’s life, and that no 
injurious effects, however trivial, from 







10 


TRE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


the treatment adopted, have subse¬ 
quently appeared. 

Corns.—(l) For soft corns soak the 
feet well in hot water before going to 
bed, then pare down the corn, and, 
after having just moistened it,rub a lit¬ 
tle lunar caustic on the corn and just 
around the edge, till it turns light gray. 
By the next morning it will be black, 
and when the burnt skin peels oft 
it will leave no vestige of the corn 
underneath. Of course, the corn is li¬ 
able to return, but not for some length 
of time. Or, scrape a bit of common 
chalk, and put a pinch of the powder 
on the corn at night, binding a piece of 
linen, round. Be peat this for a few 
days, when the corn will come.off in lit¬ 
tle scales. 

(2) Take quarter cup of strong vine- 

£ ar, crumb finely into it some bread. 

iet stand half an hour, or until it soft¬ 
ens into a good poultice. Then apply, 
on retiring at night. In the morning 
the soreness will be gone and the corn 
can be picked out. If the corn is a 
very obstinate one, it nmy require two 
or more applications to effect a cure. 

(3) To cure corns, take a lemon, cut 
a piece of it off, then nick it so as to let 
in the toe with the corn. Tie this on at 
night so that it cannot move, and you 
„wiU‘find the next morning that, with a 
blunt knife, the corn will come away 
to a great extent. Two or three appli¬ 
cations will effect a thorough cure. 

(4) For soft corns dip a piece of linen 
cloth in turpentine and wrap it around 
the toe on which the corn is situated, 
night and morning. The relief will be 
immediate, and, after a few days, the 
corn will disappear. 

(5) Soft corns can be cured by this 
corn salve: Boil tobacco down to an 
extract, then mix with it a quantity of 
white pitch pine, and apply -it to the 
corn, renewing it once a "week until 
the corn disappears. 

(6) Boil a potato in its skin, and after 
it is boiled take the skin and put the 
inside of it to the corn, and leave it on 
for about twelve hours; at the end of 
that period the corn will be nearly 
cured. 

(7) Macerate the tender leaves of ivy 
in strong vinegar for eight or ten days, 
then apply to the corns by means of 
cloths or lint saturated with the liquor. 
In a few days the corns will drop off. 

Corpulence. —- For those people 
whose fleshiness is a matter of solici. 


tude, whether because it is uncomfort¬ 
able or unfashionable, the following 
diet is proposed by Dr. George John¬ 
son : May eat—Lean mutton and beef, 
veal and lamb, soups not thickened, 
beef-tea and broth; poultry, game, fish 
and eggs; bread in moderation, greens, 
cress, lettuce, etc., green peas, cabbage, 
cauliflower, onions, fresh fruit without 
sugar. May not eat—Fat meat, bacon 
or ham, butter, cream, sugar, potatoes, 
carrots, parsnips, rice, sago, tapioca, 
macaroni, custard, pastry and pud¬ 
dings, sweet cakes. May drink—tea, 
coffee, cocoa from nibs, with milk, but 
no sugar; dry wines in moderation with¬ 
out sugar; light bitter beer, soda and 
seltzer water. May not drink — Milk, 
except sparingly;' porter and stout, 
sweet ales, sweet wines. As a rule, al¬ 
coholic liquors should be taken spar¬ 
ingly, and never without food. 

Cosmetics. — (1) Oatmeal may be 
used for beautifying the complexion in 
this way : Take a small quantity of meal 
and pour sufficient cold water over it to 
make a thin paste; then strain through 
a fine sieve and bath the face with the 
liquid, leaving it to dry upon the skin. 
This preparation renders the complet¬ 
ion very soft and white. 

(2) Take an ordinary milk-pan, and 
fill it with the white flowers of the eld¬ 
erberry bush. The flowers should be 
covered with boiling water, placed out- 
of-doors in the sun for about three days, 
strained off, and bottled. The liquid 
should be of a dark mahogany color. 
It is an excellent lotion to remove sun¬ 
burn and freckles. 

(3) Squeeze a little lemon juice on a 
soft, wet rag, and pass the rag over the 
face a number of times before retiring 
at night. Repeat the operation as often 
during the following day as you find it 
convenient, allowing the juice of the 
lemon to dry on the face. In a week 
or so you will experience great benefit. 

(4) Glycerine and lemon juice make a 
very good toilet artiole for improving 
the complexion. Mix before applying 
it. A convenient way of using these 
articles is to pour a little of the glycer¬ 
ine into the palm of the hand, then 
squeeze out a few drops of lemon, rub 
together, and apply to the face. 

(5) Take half a cup of water, and add 
to it a tablespoonful of glycerine. Add 
to this a tablespoonful of alcohol and a 
teaspoonful of cologne. Apply with a 
s ponge or a soft cotton cloth. 







THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


11 


(o) An infusion of horseradish and 
milk, as a correspondent informs us, 
will make a most excellent, harmless, 
and effective cosmetic. It is certainly 
very easily tried. 

(7) Melt one pound of soft soap over 
a slow tire, with half a pint of sweet oil, 
and add a teacupful of tine sand. Stir 
the mixture together until cold. 

^8i Use a teaspoonful of powdered 
borax every morning in the basin of 
water, when washing the face or hands; 
also use it when taking a bath. 

Costiveness.—(1) Bread and milk, 
though excellent for children in gener¬ 
al, is not as good food for a costive child 
as bread made of corn-meal or graham 
flour. Wheat bread is not good for a 
very costive child. When medicine be¬ 
comes necessary, a teaspoonful of mag¬ 
nesia dissolved in sweetened milk or 
water, and given morning and night, 
until the bowels become regular, is 
usually sufficient. Purgatives should 
be carefully avoided, except for a dis¬ 
ordered stomach and then they become 
necessary. Well-ventilated sleeping- 
rooms, and frequent bathing, go fur¬ 
ther than most people suppose, toward 
keeping the body in a healthy con¬ 
dition. To mothers whonurse their in¬ 
fants, we say, if the mother is regular, 
the child will be, and the reverse. 
Therefore, instead of dosing a child 
with medicine, let her diet for the evil, 
and save her little one much suffering. 
A lady correspondent some time since 
wrote us. “ I have used, with much 
benefit, the herb known as thorough- 
wort, prepared by putting the dried 
herb in water, and letting it stand un¬ 
til it becomes bitter. A portion drank 
before each meal has proved the best 
remedy for costiveness I ever used.” 

(2) Common charcoal is highly rec¬ 
ommended for costiveness. It may 
be taken either in tea or tablespoonfui. 
or even larger doses, according to the 
exigencies of the case, mixed with mo¬ 
lasses, repeating it as often as neces¬ 
sary. Bathe the bowels with pepper 
and vinegar. Or take two ounces of 
rhubarb, add one ounce of rust of iron, 
infuse in one quart of wine.» Half a 
wineglassful every morning. Or take 
pulverized bloodroot, one dram; pul¬ 
verized rhubarb, one dram; Castile 
soap, two scruples. Mix and roll into 
thirty-two pills. Take one morning 
and night. By following these direc¬ 
tion^ it may perhaps save you from a 


severe attack of piles, or some other 
kindred disease. 

Coughs and Colds.—(1) An old- 

fashioned remedy for a cold : A warm 
“ stew,” getting into bed with covering 
well tucked in, hot bricks to feet, 
and drinking abundantly of hot teas 
until there is a dripping perspiration, 
to be kept up an hour or two or more 
until the system is relieved, and then 
to cool off very gradually in the course 
of another hour, is derisively styled 
‘'an old woman’s remedy;” but for all 
that it will break up any cold taken 
within thirty-six hours; it will prompt¬ 
ly relieve many of the most painful 
forms of sudden disease, with the ad¬ 
vantage of being without danger, gives 
no shock to the system, nor wastes its 
strength. 

(2) Borax has proved a most effective 

remedy in certain forms of colds. In 
sudden hoarseness or loss of voice in 
public speakers or singers, from colds, 
relief for an hour or so may be obtained 
by slowly dissolving, and partially swal¬ 
lowing, a lump of borax the size of a 
garden pea, oraboutthree or four grains 
held in the mouth for ten or fifteen 
minutes before speaking or singing. 
This produces a profuse secretion of 
saliva, or “ watering ” of the mouth 
and throat, ju.^t as wetting brings back 
the missing notes to a flute when it is 
too dry. * 

(3) The following remedy, communi¬ 
cated by a Russian, as the usual mode 
of getting rid of those complaints in 
that part of Russia from whence he 
came, is simple, and we can, from ex¬ 
perience, also vouch for its efficacy. It 
is no other than a strong tea of elder 
flowers, sweetened with honey, either 
fresh or dried. A basin of this tea is to 
be drank as hot as possible, after the 
person is warm in bed; it produces a 
strong perspiration, and a slight cold 
or cough yields to it immediately, but 
the most stubborn requires two or three 
repetitions. 

(4) To a pint and a half of water, add 
two large poppy-heads, and two large 
lemons. Boil them till they are soft, 
press the lemons into the water, strain 
the liquor, and add half a dram of 
saffron* and half a pound of brown sug- 
ar-caDdy, pounded. Boil gall together 
till the sugar-candy is dissolved; stir 
the whole till you perceive it will jelly; 
strain it a second time, and take the 
seeds from the poppies. 





12 


THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


(5) Put five cents’ worth of pine pitch 
into a pint of water. Let it simmer 
until the water is well impregnated 
with the flavor. Dip out the gum which 
remains undissolved and add honey 
enough to sweeten and make a thick 
syrup. Strain this and bottle. Dose, 
a teaspoonful four or five times a day, 
according to the severity of the cough. 
It will afford speedy relief. 

(6) Take two ounces of balm of gilead 
buds, the freshest you can procure, and 
boil them very slowly in a quart of wa¬ 
ter. Let it simmer down to one pint, 
then strain it, and then add one pound 
of honey in comb, with the juice of 
three lemons. Let them ajl boil to¬ 
gether until the wax in the honey is 
dissolved. This has been known to 
cure a cough of long standing. 

(7) Melt some resin at night on going 
to bed, and let the smoke from it fill 
the room. Inhaliug the smoke heals 
the inflammation, and sleep is often 
produced when one could not sleep be- 
forejfor much coughing. Persevere un¬ 
til a cure is effected. A Change for the 
better should be felt within a week. 

(8) For colds, coughs, croup, or lung 
fever, take lard or sweet oil, two parts ; 
coal oil, two parts; spirits of camphor, 
cue part; spirits of turpentine, one part; 
saturate flannel and apply to the throat 
and chest warm. 

Cramp in bathing.—For the cure 
of the cramp when swimming, Dr. 
Franklin recommends a vigorous and 
violent shock to the part affected, by 
suddenly and forcibly stretching out 
the leg, Which should be darte.d out of 
the water into the air if possible. 

Cramp in the Leg.—A garter ap¬ 
plied tightly round the limb affected 
will, in most cases, speedily remove the 
complaint. When it is more obstinate, 
a brick should be heated, wrapped in a 
flannel bag, and placed at the foot of 
the bed, against which thepersoh troub¬ 
led may place his feet. No remedy, 
however, is equal to that of diligent 
and long-continued friction. 

Cramps.—A correspondent gives 
the following directions for the relief 
of cramps. When the cram pis in the calf 
of the leg, draw up the foot strongly 
toward the shin bone, and in a few sec¬ 
onds the cramp will disappear. When 
they are in the thighs or arms, tie a 
towel, cord, or handkerchief around 
the limb, just above the cramped part, 


and then rub this part with the naked 
hand alone, or using some stimulating 
liniment like spirits of camphor or red- 
peppered whisky. The preparation may 
also be rubbed upon the neck when 
cramps attack this part. Cramps in the 
stomach may be checked by first strong¬ 
ly rubbing and kneading over the stom¬ 
ach, and then rubbing upon and around 
the pit of the stomach, a mixture of 
equal parts of sweet oil or linseed oil, 
essence of peppermint, laudanum, and 
spirits of camphor. 

Croup.— There are various remedies 
for this enemy in the nursery. As in 
other diseases, prevention is better than 
cure. Children liable to croup should 
not play out-of-doors after three o’clock 
in the afternoon. If a woolen shawl is 
closely pinned around the neck of the 
patient when the first symptoms of 
croup appear the attack may be dimin¬ 
ished in power. The child* struggling. 
for breath naturally throws its arms out 
of bed to breathe through its pores, and 
thus takes more cold and increases its 
trouble. Bichromate of potassa in 
minute doses—as much as will rest on 
the point of a penknife—given every 
hour till relief is obtained is the best 
remedy we have ever tried. Mustard 
plasters on the ankles, wrist and chest, 
will draw the blood from the throat and 
relieve it, cloths wrung from hot water 
and placed about the chest and throat 
and wrapped with flannel, give relief. 
A teaspoonful of alum pulverized and 
mixed with twice its quantity of sugar, 
to make it palatable, will give almost 
instant help. Another remedy is the 
following: Take equal parts of soda or 
saleratus and syrup or molasses; mix 
ana give a teaspoonful for a child two 
years, larger doses for older children, 
smaller for nursing babies. Repeat the 
doses at shortintervals until the phlegm 
is all thrown up, and upon each recur¬ 
rence of the symptoms. Or, grate a 
raw onion, strain out the juice, and to 
two parts of the juice put one part of 
castor oil; keep it well corked in a bot¬ 
tle, shake well, give one teaspoonful 
once in two or three hours. Or, take 
two par's sweet lard and six parts pul¬ 
verized *sugar, mix thoroughly, and 
give a teaspoonful every fifteen minu¬ 
tes until relief is obtained. Among the 
many remedies given we hope that one 
or more may be available to every moth¬ 
er who needs aid i’n this matter. 

Dandruff.—(1) A preparation of one 





THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


13 


ounce of sulphur and one quart of wa¬ 
ter, repeatedly agitated during inter¬ 
vals of a few hours, and the head sat¬ 
urated every morning with the clear liq¬ 
uid, will, in a few we’eks, remove every 
trace of dandruff from the scalp, and the 
hair will soon become soft and glossy. 

(2) There is no simpler or better rem¬ 
edy for this vegetatious appearance 
(caused by dryness of the skin) than a 
wash of camphor and borax—an ounce 
of each put into a pint and a half of cold 
water; and afterward rub a little pure 
oil into the scalp. 

Dangers of Childhood. — Child¬ 
hood is the period during which the 
foundations of the physical structure 
are laid. It ends, at the age of about 
fourteen, with the completion of the 
permanent teeth. It is characterized 
by almost absolute dependence on the 
parents, and therefore the responsibil¬ 
ity rests upon them whether the foun¬ 
dations of the superstructure shall be 
good or bad, and, indeed, whether there 
shall be any superstructure! The fact 
that cue half of all who are born die 
within this period, while multitudes of 
adults find, when it is too late, fatal de¬ 
fects in the very groundwork of their 
constitutions, is a fearful witness 
against the competency of most par¬ 
ents for the care of children. What 
farmer would employ a hand that let 
one-half of all his calves, colts and 
lambs die ? In the matter of food, if 
milk fails the mother, how few mothers 
know what to give the child! How few 
know that many of the compounds sold 
as“Infhnts’ food” contain no food 
whatever! and that cow’s milk, harm¬ 
ful when taken alone, is generally safe 
with a certain proportion of lime-wa¬ 
ter! How few mothers know that too 
protracted nursing will result in “ rick¬ 
ets?” That overfeeding all through 
childhood is a prolific source of dis¬ 
ease? and that, in case of most bowel 
complaints, a spare diet for a few days 
is better than all* medicines ? In our 
climate, where the mercury ranges 
through 140 degrees and often varies 
between the extremes suddenly and 
violently, how little do mothers realize 
the importance of aiding nature, with 
clothing and food, so that the internal 
temperature is held steadily at 98 de¬ 
grees? Do you know that a change of 
half a dozen degrees of the internal 
temperature, either way, is almost sure 
death ? The great mortality of children 


in summer is due mainly to heat. An 
abundance of woolen clothing alone can 
guard against the effects of the violent 
changes in the climate of the autumn 
and winter and spring. How few are 
aware that the infectious diseases 
which so ravage childhood, are caused 
by careless exposure to the contagion, 
or, if aware, act accordingly ? 

Deafness. —Put a tablespoonful of 
bay-salt into nearly half a pint of cold 
spring water; and after it has steeped 
therein for twenty-four hours, now and 
then shaking the vial, pour a small 
teaspoonful in the ear most affected, 
nightly, when in bed, for seven or eight 
successive nights. 

Diarrhea.—(1) It is said the small 
plant commonly known by the name 
rupturewort, made into tea, and drank 
frequently, is a sure cure for diarrhea. 
Rupturewort grows in nearly every 
open lot, and along the roads. It is a 
small plant throwing out a number of 
shoots in a horizontal direction, and 
lying close to the ground, something 
similar to the manner of the pusley- 
weed, and bears a small, dark green 
leaf, with an oblong, purple spot in the 
center. When the stem is broken, a 
white milky substance will ooze from 
the wound. It is very palatable, and 
infants take it as readily as any drink. 
This is an old Indian cure, and may be 
relied on. The botanical name of this 
plant is Euphrobia Maculata. 

(2) Blackberry cordial is said to be 
almost a specific forsummer complaint 
or diarrhea. From a teaspoonful to a 
wineglass is to be taken, according to 
the age of the patient, until relieved. 
Following is a recipe for making black¬ 
berry cordial: To two quarts of juice 
add one pound of white sugar; half 
ounce nutmeg, half ounce cinnamon, 
pulverized ; half ounce cloves, pulver¬ 
ized. Boil all together for a short time, 
and when cold add a pint of brandy. 

(3) Take Indian corn, roasted and 
ground in the manner of coffee, or coarse 
meal browned, and boil in a sufficient 
quantity of water to produce a strong- 
liquid, like coffee, and drink a teacup¬ 
ful warm, two or three times a day. 
One day’s practice, it is said, will or¬ 
dinarily effect a cure. 

(4) The ingredients are : Sulphate of 
morphia, one grain; Glauber salts, 
quarter of an ounce ; water, two ounces. 
Dose: A teaspoonful twice a day. If 
attended with much pain and loose- 








11 


TIIE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


Dess, administer this medicine every 
two hours. 

(5) A strong solution of bicarbonate 
of soda (baking soda) taken frequent¬ 
ly is a reliable remedy for diarrhea 
troubles, particularly those arising 
from acidity of the stomach. 

Diarrhea, Diet during. - Tea 

without milk, and very little sugar; 
mutton and chicken broths, or beef 
tea, thickened with a little flour or ar¬ 
rowroot; boiled rice, tapioca, sago ; rice- 
water or toast-water to drink. If the 
attack is severe, or of long continu¬ 
ance, the patient must be kept in bed. 
The feet must be kept warm, and the 
covering to suit the feelings of the pa¬ 
tient. 

Dieting for Health. — This has 
sent many a one to the grave, and will 
send many more, because it is done in¬ 
judiciously or ignorantly. One man 
omits his dinner by a herculean effort, 
and thinking he has accomplished 
wonders, expects wonderful results; but 
by the time supper is ready, he feels 
as hungry as a dog, and eats like one— 
fast, furious and long. Next day he is 
worse, and “ don’t believe in dieting 
Tor the remainder of life. 

Others set out to starve themselves 
into health, until the system is reduced 
so low that it has no power of resusci¬ 
tation, aud the man dies. 

To diet wisely, does not imply a total 
abstinence from all food, but the tak¬ 
ing of just enough, or of a quality adapt¬ 
ed to' the nature of the case. Loose 
bowels weaken very rapidly—total ab¬ 
stinence from all food increases the de¬ 
bility. In this case, food should be tak¬ 
en which, while it tends to arrest the 
disease, imparts nutriment and strength 
to the system. In this case, rest on a 
bed, and eating boiled rice, after it has 
been parched like coffee, will cure three 
cases out of four of common diarrhea 
in a day or two. 

Others think that, in order to diet ef¬ 
fectually, it is all important to do with¬ 
out meat, but allow themselves the 
widest liberty in all else. But in many 
cases, dyspeptic conditions of the sys¬ 
tem particularly, the course ought to 
be reversed, because meat is converted 
into nutriment, with the expenditure 
of less stomach power than vegetables, 
while a given amount of work does 
three times as much good, gives three 
t imes as much nutriment and strength 
as vegetable food would. 


Diphtheria.— (1) Dr. Chenery, of 
Boston, has lately discovered that hy¬ 
posulphite of soda is the specific rem¬ 
edy against diphtheria, that so much 
dreaded ailment, which of late years has 
carried off many valuable lives. He 
reports a very large number of cases 
saved by the use of this remedy. The 
dose of the hyposulphite is from five to 
fifteen grains or more in syrup, every 
two to four hours, according to age and 
circumstances. It can do no harm, but 
if too much is given it will purge; as 
much as the patient can bear without 
purging is a good rule in the severer 
cases. The solution or mixture can be 
used in doses of five drops to half a dram 
in milk. The amount for thorough 
stimulation is greater than can betaken 
in water. The doctor usually gives it in 
such doses as can be easily taken in 
milk, using milk beside as a food for 
small children. One fact, however, 
needs to be borne in mind, namely, the 
hyposulphite prevents the digestion of 
milk, and it should not be given in less 
than an hour after taking the medicine. 
They may be used alternately, howev¬ 
er, without interference, in sufficiently 
frequent doses. 

(2) The treatment consists in thor¬ 
oughly swabbing the back of the mouth 
and throat with a wash made tl\us : Ta¬ 
ble salt, two drams; black pepper, gold¬ 
en seal, nitrate of potash, alum, one 
dram each. Mix and pulverize, put in¬ 
to a teacup half full of water, stir well, 
aud then fill up with good vinegar. 
Use every half hour, one, two and four 
hours, as recovery progresses. The pa¬ 
tient may swallow a little each time. 
Apply one ounce each of spirits of tur¬ 
pentine, sweet oil, and aqua ammonia, 
mixed, every hour, to the whole of the 
throat, and to the breast bone every 
four hours, keeping flannel to the part. 

(3) A correspondent writes that he 
has used the following remedy for diph¬ 
theria in a great many hard cases, and 
in not one has it failed to effect a cure. 
It is as follows; Procure some Ditch tar 
—not gas tar—put a little on a hot iron, 
invert funnel over the smoke, and let 
the patient inhale as much as he can 
for a few minutes five or six times a 
day. During the intervals let the pa¬ 
tient have small pieces of ice to keep as 
near the root of the tongue as possible. 

(4) In France lemon juice is in high 
repute as a remedy for diphtheria. As 
a local application it is preferred to 
chlorate of potash, nitrate of silver. 







THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


15 


perchloride of iron, alum or lime-water. 
It is used by dipping a little plug of 
cotton wool twisted around a wire in 
the juice, and pressing it against the 
diseased surface four orfive times daily. 

(5) A gargle of sulphur and water has 
been used with much success in cases 
of diphtheria. Let the patient swallow 
a little of the mixture. Or, when you 
discover that your throat is a little 
sore, bind a strip of flannel around the 
throat, wet in camphor, and gargle salt 
and vinegar occasionally. 

(C) Take a common * tobacco pipe, 
place a live coal within the bowl, drop 
a little tar upon the coal, and let the 
patient draw smoke into the mouth, 
and discharge it through the nostrils. 
The remedy, is safe and simple, and 
should be tried whenever occasion may 
require. 

Disinfect a Room, A cheap and 
simple way to. —Heat a common 
iron fire-shovel hot, but not quite red 
hot, and pour an ounce of carbolic acid 
fluid on it. The fumes will penetrate 
the room everywhere and cleanse the 
air of its impurities. This should be 
repeated daily so long as it is neces¬ 
sary. 

Disinfectant, A simple.— The fol¬ 
lowing is a refreshing disinfectant for 
a sick-room, or any room that has an 
unpleasant aroma pervading it: Put 
some fresh ground coffee in a saucer, 
and in the center place a small piece of 
camphor gum, which light with a 
match. As the gum burns allow suffi¬ 
cient coffee to consume with it. The 
perfume is very pleasant and healthful 
— being far superior to pastiles and 
very much cheaper. 

Dropsy. — (1) Take one pint of 
bruised mustard seed, two handfuls of 
bruised horseradish root, eight ounces 
of iignum-vitse chips, and four ounces 
of bruised Indian liemproot. Put all 
the ingredients in seven quarts of ci¬ 
der, and let it simmer over a slow fire 
until it is reduced to four quarts. 
Strain the decoction, and take a wine- 
glassful four times a day for a few 
days, increasing the dose to a small tea¬ 
cupful three times a day. After which 
use tonic medicines. This remedy has 
cured cases of dropsy in one week’s 
time which has baffled the skill of many 
emient physicians. For children the 
dose should be smaller. 

(2) The ingredients are: Acetate of 


squills, one ounce; nitrate of potash, 
sixty grains; water, five ounces. -Dose: 
A tablespoonful every two hours. 

(3) It is said that a tea made of chest¬ 
nut leaves, and drank in the place of 
water, will cure the most obstinate case 
of dropsy in a few days. 

Drowning, To restore the.— The 

rules that ought tobe observed in treat¬ 
ing a person rescued from the water 
are few and simple. Dr. H. R. Silves¬ 
ter’s methods of restoring the appar¬ 
ently dead or drowned —which have 
been approved by the royal medical 
and cliirurgical society -are practical, 
easily understood, and are in accord¬ 
ance with common sense. The one im¬ 
portant point to be aimed at is, of 
course, the restoration of breathing, 
and the efforts to accomplish this should 
be persevered in until the arrival of 
medical assistance, or until the pulse 
and breath have ceased for at least an 
hour. Cleanse the mouth and nostrils, 
open the mouth, draw forward the pa¬ 
tient’s tongue with a handkerchief, and 
keep it forward; remove all tight cloth¬ 
ing from about the neck and chest. As 
to the patient’s position, place him on 
his back on a flat surface, inclined a 
little from the feet upward; raise and 
support the head and shoulders on a 
small, firm cushion or folded article of 
dress placed under the shoulder blades. 
Then grasp the arms just above the el¬ 
bows, and draw the arms gently and 
steadily upward, until they meet above 
the head (this is for the purpose of 
drawing air into the lungs); and keep 
the. arms in that position for two sec¬ 
onds. Then turn down the patient’s 
arms, and press them gently and firm- 
Iv for two seconds against the sides of 
the chest (with the object of pressing 
air out of the lungs, pressure on the 
breast bone will aid this). Repeat these 
measures alternately, deliberately and 
perseveriugly, fifteen times in a min¬ 
ute, until a spontaneous effort to respire 
is perceived, upon which cease to imi¬ 
tate the movements of breathing, and 
proceed to induce circulation and 
warmth. This may be done by wrap¬ 
ping the patient in dry blankets and 
rubbing the limbs upward, firmly and 
energetically. Promote the warmth 
of the body by the application of hot 
flannels, bottles of hot water, etc., to 
the pit of the stomach, the armpits, 
and to the soles of the feet. Warm 
clothing may generally be obtained 






10 


TIIE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


from a by-stan der. On the restoration 
of life, stimulants should be given,and 
a disposition to sleep encouraged. 

Dysentery-—(1) Dysentery, or in¬ 
flammation of the great intestine, pre¬ 
vails iu the autumnal season more par¬ 
ticularly, and in low-lying and marshy 
districts. It occasionally occurs also 
as an epidemic in overcrowded institu¬ 
tions and unhealthy localities. Treat 
ment: Dysentery attacks those soon¬ 
est whose blood is impoverished and 
whose vital powers are generally de¬ 
pressed from some cause—a fact which 
suggests a building-up plan of treat¬ 
ment. Although dysenterv-commences 
in the great intestine, the liver soon 
becomes secondarily affected, and it, 
therefore, behooves the patient to be 
very cautious as to the amount of stimu¬ 
lation he subjects himself to; malt liq¬ 
uors and spirits are not permissable. 
His food, too, must be of the lightest 
kind. The following medicines will be 
found most useful: Castor-oil mixture : 
Take of castor oil, six drams; com¬ 
pound powder of tragacanth, one ounce; 
cinnamon water, six ounces. Take a 
sixth part three times a day. The nit¬ 
ric acid mixture: Take of dilute nitric 
acid, two drams; spirit of chloroform, 
two drams; tincture of opium, half a 
dram; peppermint water, six ounces. 
Take two tablespoonfuls every four 
hours. With either of the above mixt¬ 
ures a powder containing three grains 
of ipecacuanha and six grains of sugar 
may be taken every night and morning. 
Ipecacuanha becomes an invaluable 
medicine in dysentery, by virtue of the 
specific power it exerts on all mucous 
membranes in causing increased action 
of their mucous follicles; and thus it is 
that it gives so much relief to the dys¬ 
enteric patient, in whom the dry and, 
perhaps, ulcerated surface of the intes¬ 
tine is soothed and lubricated by an 
increased flow of mucus. 

(2) The egg is considered one of the 
best of remedies for dysentery. Beat¬ 
en up slightly, with or* without sugar, 
and swallowed at a gulp, it tends, by 
its emollient qualities, to lessen the in¬ 
flammation of the stomach and intes¬ 
tine, and, by forming a transient coat 
ing on these organs, to enable nature 
to resume her healthful sway over a 
diseased body. Two, or at most three 
eggs per day, would be all that is re¬ 
quired in ordinal y cases, and since egg 
is not merely medicine but food as well, 


the lighter the diet otherwise and the 
quieter the patient is kept the more 
certain and rapid is the recovery. 

(3) Take one pint of best wine vine¬ 
gar, and add half a pound of best loaf 
sugar. Simmer them together in a 
pewter vessel, with a pewter top. Let 
the patient drink this during the dav— 
a small quantity at a time —either 
clear, or diluted with water. 

Dyspepsia. —(1) We have seen dys¬ 
peptics who suffered untold torments 
with almost every kind of food; no liq¬ 
uid could be taken without suffering; 
bread became a burning acid; meat 
and milk were solid liquid fires; and 
we have seen their torments pass away, 
and their hunger relieved by living on 
the white of eggs which have been 
boiled in bubbling water for thirty min¬ 
utes. At the end of a week we have 
given the half yelk of the egg with the 
white, and upon this diet alone, with¬ 
out food of any kind, we have seen them 
begin to gain flesh and strength, and 
quiet, refreshing sleep. After weeks of 
this treatment they have been able, 
with care, to begin upon other food. 
And all this without taking medicine. 
Hard-boiled eggs are not half so bad as 
half-boiled ones, and ten times as easy 
to digest as raw eggs, even in egg-nog. 

(2) Milk and lime-'water is said to 
prove beneficial in dyspepsia and weak¬ 
ness of the stomach. The way to make 
the lime-water is simply to procure a 
few lumps of unslaked lime, put the 
lime in a fruit can, add water until it 
is slaked and of the consistency of thin 
cream ; the lime settles, and leaves the 
pure and clear lime-water at the top. 
A goblet of cow’s milk may have six or 
eight teaspoonfuls of lime-water added 
with good effect. Great care should be 
taken not to get the lime-water too 
strong; pour off without disturbing the 
precipitated line. Sicxness of the stom¬ 
ach is promptly relieved by a teacupful 
of warm water with a teaspoonful of 
soda dissolved in it. If it brings the 
offending matter up, all the better. 

(3) Dr. Nichols, who has made a se¬ 
ries of dietetic experiments on himself, 
has arrived at the conclusion that, if 
the stomach is allowed to rest, any case 
of dyspepsia may be cured;that the 
diet question was at the root of all dis¬ 
eases ; that pure blood can only be made 
from pure food, and that, if the drink 
of a nation were pure and free from 
stimulating qualities, and the food wag 





17 


THE FAMILY BOOT OH BOOK . 


also pure, the result would be pure 
health.- 

(4) In mild case3 take one teaspoon¬ 
ful sweet oil, after eating, three times 
a day. In severe forms take a dessert¬ 
spoonful. This followed up has cured 
cases where doctors have given them 
up. Ye who suffer from this dread 
disease, don’t fail to try it; surely it 
can not hurt you. 

(5) Burn alum until the moisture in it 
is evaporated, then take as much as 
you can put on a dime, about half an 
hour before eating. Three or four days 
probably will answer; but take it until 
cured. 

Earaclie.—(1) As soon as any sore¬ 
ness is felt in the ear—which feelingal- 
ways precedes the regular ache—let 
three or four drops of tincture of arnica 
be poured in, and then the orifice filled 
with a little cotton to exclude the air, 
and in a short time the uneasiness is 
forgotten. If the arnica is not resorted 
to until there Is actual pain, the cure 
may not be so speedy, but it is just as 
certain. If one application of the arni¬ 
ca does not effect a cure, it will be nec¬ 
essary to repeat it, it may be, several 
times. 

(2) Persons will find relief for earache 
by putting in a spoon two or three drops 
or sweet oil, or, better still, almond oil, 
the same of molasses and laudanum, 
warming it altogether. Absorb some 
of the mixture in cotton wool; put it in 
the ear, with a piece of wool outside to 
keep out the cold .air, repeating the 
thing if necessary. A roast onion heart 
dipped in this and surrounded with the 
cotton is also often very efficacious. 

(3) The most effectual remedy has 
been a small clove of garlic, steeped 
for a few minutes in warm salad oil, 
and put into the ear rolled up in mus¬ 
lin or Thin linen. In some time the 
garlic is reduced to a pulp, and having 
accomplished its object should be re¬ 
placed with cotton to prevent the pa¬ 
tient getting cold. 

(4) To cure earache take a. bit of cot¬ 
ton batting, put upon it a 'pinch of 
black pepper, gather it up and tie it, 
dip in sweet oil and insert into the ear. 
Put a flannel bandage over the head 
and keep it warm. It will give imme¬ 
diate relief. 

(5) Dissolve asafetida in water; 
warm a few drops and drop in the ear, 
then cork the ear with cotton. 

Ear,Deficiency of wax in the.— 
Deafness is sometimes the consequence 


of a morbidly dry state of the inner 
passages of the ear. In such cases, 
introduce a bit of cotton wool dipped 
in an equal mixture of oil of turpentine 
and oil of almonds, or in the liniment 
of carbonate of ammonia. 

Ear, Removing substance from 
the. —Take a horse-hair about six 
inches long, aud double it so as to 
make a loop at one end. Introduce 
this loop as deeply as possible into the 
auditory -canal, and twist it gently 
around. After one or two turns, ac¬ 
cording to the originator of the plan, 
the foreign body is drawn out with the 
loop. The method is ingenious, and at 
all events causes little pain, and can do 
no harm. 

Emetic, A prompt.— The ingre¬ 
dients are: Tartar emetic, one grain; 
powdered ipecac, twenty grains. Take 
the above in a wineglassfulof sweetened 
water. 

Enlarged Neck.— To cure enlarged 
neck, take two tablespoonfuls of salt, 
two of borax and two of alum, dissolve 
in two of water and apply three times 
a day for three weeks. 

Erysipelas. —(1) We havefound sour 
milk, buttermilk, or whey therefrom, 
an excellent remedy to apply for the 
erysipelas as a wash. Also to apply 
glycerine twice or three times a day; 
it has a soothing effect. We have 
many times applied the milk hot, and 
found it allayed the inflammation bet¬ 
ter than cold applications, and far less 
troublesome than poultices. 

(2) Erysipelas is of two kinds—one 
affecting principally the skin, the oth¬ 
er the whole system. In mild cases, 
affecting the skin only, lemonade made 
from the fresh fruit helps the patient 
very much, being, in addition, very 
grateful to the palate. 

(3) Asa local application,slippery elm 
has been found efficacious. Make a 
mucilage of it, and apply it warm on 
cloths to the face. Sometimes common 
flour, dusted on the inflamed parts, will 
afford relief. 

(4) One pint of sweet milk and a hand¬ 
ful of pokeberry roots. This is a sure 
cure. 

(5) Make a poultice of cranberries, 
and apply to the face. 

Eye,Dust in the.—(1) If a cinder or 
bit of dust gets into the eye do notrub 
the eyeball; that only irritates it. If 






18 


THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


the intruder is beneath the upper eve- 
lid, lift the upper ltd with the thumb 
and finger of the right hand, and with 
the f<-refinger of the left hand raise up¬ 
ward the under eyelid while you pull 
down over it the upper lid. This will 
seldom fail to remove the cinder, the 
soft skiu and eyelashes taking it off 
without injuring the eyeball. 

(2) Asmall camel’s-hair brush, dipped 
in water and passed over the ballofthe 
eye on raising the lid. The operation 
requires no skill, takes but a moment, 
and instantly removes any cinder or 
particle of dust or dirt, without inflam¬ 
ing the eye. 

(3) To remove specks of dirt from the 
eye, immerse it in cold water, then roll 
and wink it rapidly, still keeping it in 
the water, till the desired result is ac¬ 
complished. In cases of slight inflam¬ 
mation or dryness of the eye, this bath 
has a good effect. Use tepid, slightly 
salted water, instead of the cold. 

(4) A celebrated oculist in Utrecht 
recommends, in all cases where dirt, 
lime, or specks get into the eyes, that 

' the sufferer have pure olive oil poured 
in until everything of a hurtful nature 
is removed. The remedy is quite pain¬ 
less, and never fails to remove all for¬ 
eign substances. 

Eyes, Scrofulous sore.— Take blue 
violets, which are growing wild in most 
places, dig them up, top and root, wash 
clean, dry and make a tea; drinkseveral 
times a day, wetting the eyes each 
time, and it will soon cure. 

Eyes, Sore.—Get the roots of lin- 
wood (some call it bass-wood), wash 
and scrape the outer bark clean, then 
scrape the inner bark very fine, filling 
a tumbler about one-third full. Then 
fill the tumbler nearly full of rain-wa¬ 
ter. It will, in a little while, thicken 
like jelly. Now* take a thin, soft cloth, 
the thinner the better, put some of the 
mucilage between two pieces and place 
it upon the eyes. It is very soothing. 

Eyes, Weak and inflamed.—(1) 

Borax, half dram; camphor w*ater, 

"three ounces. The above simple pre¬ 
scription is in common use by the 
highest medical authorities. It makes 
a wash unexcelled for the treatment of 
inflammation of the eyes. In using it 
lean the head back and drop three 
drops in the corner of each, and then 
open the eyes and let it work in. Use 
it as often,as the eyes feel badly. 


(2) When the eyes become inflamed 
from any cause, do not rub them at all 
— such irritation is dangerous—but 
bathe them in tepid milk and water, 
keep the bowels open by some gentle 
medicine and eat little meat. The 
eyes are very sensitive to the state of 
theistomach. Avoid the glare of strong 
light. 

(3) Bathe your eyes night and morn¬ 
ing in a tolerably strong solution of 
salt and water. We have known some 
remarkable cures effected by this sim¬ 
ple remedy. After bathing the eyes 
daily for about a week, intermit a day 
or two, and then resume the daily 
bathing, and so on till your eyes get 
strong again. 

(4) Take rose leaves, the more the 
better, and put,them into a little water, 
then boil; after this strain it into a 
bottle and cork it tight. You will find 
this liquid very beneficial in removing 
redness and weakness from the eyes., 

(5) Cut a slice cf stale bread as thin 
as possible; toast both sides well, but 
do not burn; when cold, lay in cold 
spring or ice water; put between a 
piece.of old linen and apply, changing 
when it gets warm. 

(6) Take half an ounce of Golden Seal 
(you will find it at the drug stores), 
pour one-half pint boiling w*ater upon 
it and let it cool. Bathe the eyes with 
a linen rag dipped in this, each night 
on going to bed, and you Will soon ef¬ 
fect a cure. 

(7) Three or five grains of alum dis¬ 
solved in half a pint of water, and ap¬ 
plied to the eyes whenever they are 
w r eak or inflamed. 

(8) Scrape a raw potato; use as a 
poultice; or slippery elm. Bath with 
warm water or rose-water. 

Face, Black spots on the.—The 

black spots on the face are not always 
what are called flesh-worms. What 
are mistaken for them are produced in 
this way: The skin may be coarse, and 
the ducts, being large, collect the per¬ 
spiration, which hardens and blackens, 
and hence the common supposition of 
there .being grubs or maggots in the 
skin." The remedy is simple. Clean 
the part affected by squeezing out the 
substance that is lodged, and then use 
a lotion of diluted spirits of wine sev¬ 
eral times a day, until the blotches 
have disappeared. If they are really 
flesh-worms take something to purify 

your blood—sulphur or sarsaparilla. 

• • 








THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


19 


Face,Eruptions on the.—Dissolve 
an ounce of borax in a quart of water, 
and apply this with a line sponge every 
evening before going to bed. This 
will smooth the skin when the erup¬ 
tions do not proceed from an insect 
working under the cuticle. Many per¬ 
sons’ faces are disfigured by red erup¬ 
tions caused by a small creature work¬ 
ing under the skin. A very excellent 
remedy is to take the flour of sulphur 
and rub it on the face dry, after wash¬ 
ing it in the morning. Hub it well with 
the fingers, and then wipe it off with a 
dry towel. There are many who are 
not a little ashamed of their faces, who 
can be cured if they follow these direc¬ 
tions. 

Fainting. —Fainting is caused by 
the blood leaving the brain. Place the 
patient flat and allow the head to be 
lower than the body. Sprinkle cold 
water on the face. Hartshorn may be 
held near the nose, not to it. A half 
teaspoonful of aromatic spirits of am¬ 
monia, in a wine-glassful of water, will 
tend to. revive the patient. If the 
symptoms recur, send for a physician. 

Feet and Ankles, Swelled.— Take 
plain tain leaves (which can be found 
in almost any grass-plot, and in our 
public parks); wilt them by putting 
separately between the hands; cover 
the swollen parts with them, and keep 
in place by wrapping the limb with 
rags or a towel on going to bed at 
night, or keep them on during the day 
if not obliged to be upon the feet. A 
cure will be speedily effected. 

Feet, Cold.— Cold feet are the pre¬ 
cursors of consumption. To escape 
them, warm your feet well in the morn¬ 
ing, and covering the sole with a piece 
of common paper, carefully draw on 
the sock, and then the boot or shoe. 

Feet, Relief for the.— Every wom¬ 
an who is obliged to stand at the 
ironing-table for hours during July 
and August, finds that her feet are 
prolific sources of suffering. Even if 
she is wise enough to wear thick soled 
shoes, sjie will find her lot a hard one. 
One little thing can be done to relieve 
her somewhat. Take an old comforter, 
or part of one, fold it in just as many 
thicknesses as is possible to make it 
soft, and yet perfectly easy to stand on. 
Her feet will be cooler, and when she 
is through with her work she will uot 
have the stinging and burning sensa¬ 


tion which is as hard to bear as pain 
is. It is a good plan to have a good 
supply of holders, so that she can 
change them often. 

Feet, Swelled.— For swelled feet a 
good remedy will be found in bathing 
them in vinegar and water. 

Felons.—(1) Felons, which are usu¬ 
ally termed “ Whitlow” by physicians, 
we believe, are a very painful and often 
very serious affection of the fingers, 
generally of the last joints, and often 
near or involving the nails. As the 
fingers are much exposed to bruises, 
felons are quite common among those 
who constantly use their hands at hard 
work. If allowed to continue until 
matter (pus) forms, and the periosteum 
or bone sheathing is affected, lancing 
is necessary; but if taken in time, a 
simple application of copal varnish, 
covering it with a bandage, is highly 
recommended. If the varnish be¬ 
comes dry and unpleasantly hard, a 
little fresh Varnish maj' Joe applied 
from time to time. When a cure is ef¬ 
fected, the varnish is easily removed 
by rubbing into it a little lard and 
washing with soap and water. Dr. A. B. 
Isham details, in Medical News, a 
number of cases of its application with 
uniform success, where formations of 
pus had not previously occurred/‘In 
two cases there were apparently a 
combination of the “run-round” with 
a felon, and in all of them there was 
swelling, redness, heat and great pain. 
He ^suggests the use of copal varnish 
for felons, run-rounds, boils, and any 
local acute inflammations of external 
parts. 

(2) Take the root of the plant known 
as dragon root, Jack in-the-pulpit, 
or Indian turnip, either green or dry; 
grate about one-half a teaspoonful 
into four tablespoonfuls of sweet milk; 
simmer gently a few minutes, then 
thicken with bread-crumbs, and apply 
as hot as possible. This can be heated 
again two or three times, adding a lit¬ 
tle milk each time. If the felon is just 
starting, this will drive it back; if 
somewhat advanced will draw it out 
quickly and gently. It is well to put a 
little tallow on the poultice, especially 
after opening, to prevent sticking. 
This same poultice is good for a car¬ 
buncle or anything rising. 

(3) Many persons are liable to ex¬ 
treme suffering from felons on the fin¬ 
ger. The following prescription is 






20 


THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


recommended as a cure for the distress¬ 
ing ailment: Take common rock salt, 
such as is used for salting down pork 
or beef, dry it in an oven, then pound 
it fine and mix with spirits of turpen¬ 
tine in equal parts. Put it on a rag 
and wrap it around the part affected, 
and as it gets dry put on more, and in 
twenty-four hours you are cured—the 
felon is dead. 

(4) The following directions carefully 
observed, will prevent those circular 
and osseous abominations, known as 
felons. As soon as the disease is felt, 
put directly over the spot, a fly blister, 
about the size of your thumb nail, and 
let it remain for six hours, at the expi¬ 
ration of which time, directly under 
the surface of the blister, may be seen 
the. felon, which can instantly be 
taken out with the point of a needle or 
lancet.’ 

(5) At first great relief is obtained by 
soaking the part in half a gill of strong 
vinegar, in which has been dissolved 
one tablespoonful of saleratus. Use it 
as hot as it can be borne, and repeat as 
often as the pain returns. A thimble¬ 
ful of unslacked lime and soft soap has 
cured some cases in a few horn s. If 
matter forms, it had better be poul¬ 
ticed and lanced, or it will be painful 
from two to six weeks. 

(8) As soon as it makes its appear¬ 
ance apply a poultice, of equal parts of 
saltpeter and brimstone, mix with suf¬ 
ficient lard to make a paste, and renew 
as soon as it gets dry. A few applica¬ 
tions will effect a cure. 

Fever, Treatment for. —If the pa¬ 
tient has a burning fever, take an 
earthen wash-bowl, fill two-thirds full 
of tepid water, in which put one table¬ 
spoonful of common baking soda; then 
bathe the face, body, and limbs freely 
with it and wipe dry. This treatment 
for fever was learned from one of our 
best physicians. 

Fits.—(1) When these are brought 
on by indigestion, place the child in a 
warm bath immediately, give warm 
water, or a lobelia emetic, rub the skin 
briskly, etc., to get up an action. In 
brain disease the warm water is equal¬ 
ly useful. In fact, unless the fit is con¬ 
stitutional, the warm bath will relieve 
the patient by drawing the blood to the 
surface. 

(2) Fits can be instantly cured by 
throwing a spoonful of fine salt as far 
back ifito the mouth of the patient 


as possible, just as the fit comes on. 

Fractures, To ascertain.—Frac¬ 
tures of the ribs may be ascertained by 
placing the tips of two or three fingers 
on the spot where the pain is, and de¬ 
siring the patient to cough. If a rib 
be broken, a grating sensation will be 
felt. All that is necessary is to pass a 
broad bandage round the chest so 
tight as to prevent the motion of the 
ribs in breathing, and to observe a low 
diet. 

Freckles.— (1) Freckles are easily 
removed by the following treatment, 
but the directions must be followed 
regularly: Five grains corrosive sub¬ 
limate, two ounces alcohol, four ounces 
water. Apply two or three times dur¬ 
ing the day. At night use the following 
ointment: One ounce of white wax, one 
teacupful of nice white lard, lump of 
camphor the size of a chestnut, one tea¬ 
spoonful glycerine. Put the wax and 
camphor in a tin to melt, crumbling 
the camphor; when melted, add the 
other ingredients. Stir thoroughly, 
and pour into molds which have been 
dipped in water. This recipe will be 
found to remove pimples as well as tan 
and freckles. 

(2) A good freckle lotion for the cure 
of freckles, tan, or sunburned face or 
hands is made thus: Take half a pound 
of clear ox-gall, half a dram each of 
camphor and burned alum, one dram 
of borax, two ounces of rock-salt, and 
the same of rock-candy. This should 
be mixed and shaken well several times 
a day for three weeks, until the gall 
becomes transparent; then strain it 
very carefully through filtering paper, 
which may be had of the druggist. Ap¬ 
ply to the face during the day, and 
wash off at night. 

(3) Wash in fresh buttermilk every 
morning, and rinse the face in tepid 
water; then use a soft towel. Freckles 
may also be removed by applying to 
the face a solution of niter and water. 
Another good wash for freckles is made 
by dissolving three grains of borax in 
five drams each of rose-water and 
orange-11 ower water. There are many 
remedies for freckles, but there is none 
that will banish them entirely. 

(4) Take one ounce of lemon juice, a 
quarter of a dram of powdered borax 
and a half a dram of sugar. Mix 
and let them stand in a glass bottle for 
a few days, then rub it on the face and 
hands night and morning. Two table- 






THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK 


21 


spoonfuls of lemon juice would equal 
an ounce. 

(5) Rectified spirits of wine, one 
ounce; water, eight ounces; half an 
ounce of orange-flower water, or one 
ounce ot rose-water, diluted muriatic 
acid, a teaspoonful. Mix. To be used 
after washing. 

(6) Take grated horseradish and put 
in very sour milk. Let it stand four 
hours; then wash the face night and 
morning. 

Glasses, Hints about.— -Persons 
finding their eyes becoming dry and 
itching on reading, as well as those 
who find it necessary to place an object 
nearer than fourteen inches from their 
faces to read, need spectacles. Per¬ 
sons under forty years of age should 
not wear glasses until the accommodat¬ 
ing power of the eyes has been sus¬ 
pended and the exact state of refrac¬ 
tion determined by a competent oph¬ 
thalmic surgeon. The spectacle glasses 
sold by peddlers and by jewelers gen¬ 
erally are hurtful to the eyes of those 
who read much, as the lenses are made 
of inferior sheet glass and not symmet¬ 
rically ground. No matter how per¬ 
fectly the lenses may be made, unless 
they are mounted in a suitable frame 
and properly placed before the eye, 
discomfort will arise from their pro¬ 
longed use. 

Persons holding objects too near the 
face endanger the safety of their eyes, 
and incur the risk of becoming near¬ 
sighted. 

The near-sighted eye is an unsound 
eye, and should've fully corrected with 
a glass, notwithstanding the fact it 
may need no aid for reading. The 
proper time to begin wearing glasses 
is just as soon as the eyes tire on being 
subjected to prolonged use. 

Gout. —Take hot vinegar, and put 
into it all the table salt which it will 
dissolve, and bathe the parts affected 
with a soft piece of-flannel. Rub in 
with the hand and dry the foot, etc., by 
the fire. Repeat this operation four 
times in twenty-four hours, fifteen 
minutes each time, for four days; then 
twice' a day for the same period; then 
once, and follow this rule whenever the 
symptoms show themselves at any fut¬ 
ure time. 

Gum-boil, or Weakness of the 
Gums.— Take of acetate of morphia, 
two grains; tincture of myrrh, six 


drams; tincture of krameria, one 
ounce; spirits of lavender, three ounces 
and a hall. Let a lotion be made. 

Hair, Care of the.— To keep the 
hair healthy, keep the head clean. 
Brush the scalp well with a stiff brush 
while dry. Then wash with castile 
soap, and rub into the roots, bay rum, 
brandy, or camphor water. This done 
twice a month will prove beneficial. 
Brush the scalp thoroughly twice a 
week. Dampen the hair with soft water 
at the toilet, and do not use oil. 

Hair, Pomade for the.—(1) In¬ 
gredients : one quarter pound of lard ; 
two pennyworth of castor oil; scent. 
Mode: Let the lard be unsalted, beat 
it up well; then add the castor oil, and 
mix thoroughly together with a knife, 
adding a few drops of any scent that 
may be preferred. Put the pomatum 
into pots, v 7 hich keep well covered to 
prevent it turning rancid. 

(2) A flask of salad oil, one and a half 
ounces of spermaceti, half ounce of 
white w T ax; scent as desired. Cut up 
the white wax and spermaceti into small 
pieces, and put them into the oven to 
melt with a small quantity of the oil. 
When the lumps have disappeared, and 
all the ingredients are thoroughly 
amalgamated, pour in the remainder 
of the oil and the scent, and stir with a 
spoon until cold. 

(3) Three ounces of olive oil, three 
quarters of a dram of oil of almonds, 
two drams of palm oil, half an ounee 
of white wax, a quarter of a pound of 
lard, and three quarters of a dram of 
essence of bergamot. This pomade is 
excellent for strengthening the hair, 
promoting the growth of whiskers and 
mustaches, and preventing baldness. 

(4) Take one ounce of spermaceti, one 
ounce of castor oil, four ounces of 
olive oil, and two pennyworth of ber¬ 
gamot, and melt them together in a 
pot placed in boiling water, stirring the 
mixture all the while; when thoroughly 
mixed, pour the mixture into pots 
while hot. 

Hair Restorative.— A good hair 
restorative may be made of boxwood 
leaves, of which take a handful and put 
into one pint of boiling water; digest 
for an hour, simmer teu minutes, and 
then strain. In applying it to the hair 
rub it well intb the roots. 

Hairs, Superfluous, To remove. 

—Some few hairs will frequently grow 






22 


THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK . 


where they are not wanted, and are 
often difficult to get rid of. Close shav¬ 
ing and cutting strengthens them and 
increases their number >the only plan 
is to pull them out individually with a 
pair of tweezers, and afterward to 
dress the part two or three times a 
day in the following manner: Wash it 
first with warm, soft water, but do not 
use soap; then apply with a piece of 
soft rag, immediately after the wash¬ 
ing, a lotion of milk of roses, made ac¬ 
cording to the following directions, 
and rub the skin gently till it is dry with 
a warm, soft cloth: Beat four ounces 
of sweet almonds in a mortar to a paste 
with half an ounce of white sugar; 
then work in, in small quantities, eight 
ounces of rose-water; strain the emul¬ 
sion through muslin, put the liquid into 
a bottle, return the residuum to the 
mortar, pound it again, and add half 
an ounce of sugar and eight ounces of 
rose-water; then strain again, and re¬ 
peat the process a third time. This 
will give thirty-two ounces of fluid, to 
which add twenty grains of bichloride 
of mercury dissolved in two ounces of 
alcohol. Shake the whole for five 
minutes, and the lotion will be ready 
for use. 

Hair, the* To prevent falling 
off. —(1) When the hair, after being 
naturally luxuriant, begins to grow 
thin, without actually coming out in 
particles, use the following recipe: 
Take of extract of yellow Peruvian 
bark, fifteen grains; extract of rhatany 
root, eight grains; extract of burdock 
root and oil of nutmegs (mixed), of 
each, two drams; camphor dissolved 
with spirits of wine, fifteen grains; beef 
marrow, two ounces; best olive-oil,one 
ounce ; citron juice, half a dram ; aro¬ 
matic essential oil, as much as is suf¬ 
ficient to render it fragrant; mix, and 
make into an ointment. Two drams 
of bergamot and a few drops of attar of 
roses would suffice. This is to be used 
every morning. 

(2) Onions must be rubbed frequent¬ 
ly on the part The stimulating pow¬ 
ers of this vegetable are of essential 
service in restoring the tone of the skin, 
and assisting the capillary vessels in 
sending forth new hair; but it is not 
infallible. Should it succeed, however, 
the growth of these new hairs maj 7 be 
assisted by the oil of myrtle berries, the 
repute of which, perhaps, is greater 
than its real efficiency. These applica¬ 


tions are cheap and harmless, even 
where they do no good; a character 
which cannot be said of the numerous 
quack remedies that meet the eye in 
every direction. 

(3) To prevent hair from falling‘out 
or .turning gray, take a teacupful of 
dried sage, and boil it in a quart of 
soft water for twenty minutes. Strain 
it off and add apiece of borax the size 
of an English walnut; pulverize the 
borax. Put the sage tea, when cool, 
into a quart bottle; add the borax; 
shake well together, and keep in a cool 
place Brush the hair thoroughly and 
rub the wash well on the head with the 
hand. Then, after a good hard rub¬ 
bing, brush the hair well before the fire 
so it will become dry. 

(4) Put equal quantities of rum and 
sweet oil into a bottle, and, before us¬ 
ing, shake them well together. This 
mixture should be applied with a soft 
brush to the roots of the hair every 
night; it should be tried for a month at 
the least, before any improvement can 
be expected. 

(5) Put one pound of unadulterated 
honey into a still,with three handfuls of 
the tendrils of vine and the same quan¬ 
tity of rosemary tops. Distill as cool 
and as slowly as possible. The liquor 
may be allowed to drop till it tastes 
sour. 

(6) To prevent the hair from falling 
out appl} 7 once a week a wash made of 
one quart of boiling water, one ounce 
of pul verized borax and half an ounce 
of powdered camphor. Bub on with a 
sponge or a piece of flannel. 

(7) Take a piece of saltpeter the size 
of a hickory nut, and put in a quart of 
water, and wet the head daily. 

0 

Hair,To increase the growth of. 

—Take of mutton suet, one pound; best 
white wax, four ounces; essence of 
bergamot and lemon, of each, three 
drams; oils of lavender and thyme, 
of each, one dram. Mix the suet and 
wax over a gentle fire and then add the 
perfumes. 

Hair, To prevent gray. —To check 
premature gray ness, the head should 
be well brushed morning and night, 
with a brush hard enough to irritate 
the skin somewhat. The bristles should 
be far enough apart to brush through 
the hair, as it were, rather than over it. 
Oil, rather than pomade, should be 
used. Common sweet oil,scented with 
bergamot, can be recommended. 








THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


23 


Hair, To thicken the.— One quart 
of white wine, one handful of rosemary 
flowers, one-half pound of honey, one- 
quarter pint of oil of sweet almonds. 
Mix the rosemary and honey with the 
wine, distill them together, then add the 
oil of sweet almonds and shake well. 
When using it, pour a little into a cup, 
warm it, and rub it into the roots of 
the hair. 

Hands, Chapped. — (1) To cure 
chapped hands, take common starch 
and rub it in to a tine, powder, put it in a 
clean tin box, and every time the hands 
are removed from dish-water or hot 
suds, rinse them carefully in clean 
water, and while they are damp, rub a 
pinch of starch over them, covering the 
whole surface. 

(2) Melt spermaceti, pne- dram, with 
almond oil, one ounce, and add pow¬ 
dered camphor, one dram. It will 
be improved by adding a couple of 
drams of glycerine, using as much 
less of the almond oil. 

(3) One-half ounce of glycerine with 
same amount of alcohol. Mix, and add 
four ounces of rose-water. Bottle, and 
shake well. An excellent remedy for 
rough or chapped hands. 

Hands or Feet, Blistered.— 

When the hands are blistered from 
rowing or the feet from walking or oth¬ 
er causes, be careful not to allow the 
blisters to break, if possible. ' Some 
persons are in the habit, by means of 
a needle and piece of worsted, of plac¬ 
ing a seton into blisters to draw off the 
water; but in our opinion this is a great 
mistake and retards the healing. Bathe 
the blisters frequently in warm water, 
or if they are very severe, make a salve 
of tallow, dropped from a lighted can¬ 
dle into a little gin and worked up to a 
roper consistence, and on going to 
ed-cover the blisters with this salve 
and place a piece of clean soft rag 
over them. 

Hands, To soften the.— (O Tosoft¬ 
en the hands fill a wash-basin naif full 
of fine, white sand.and soap-suds as hoi 
as can be borne. Wash the hands in 
this five minutes at a time, washing 
and rubbing them in the sand. The 
best is the flint sand,_or the white,pow¬ 
dered quartz sold for filters. It may 
be used repeatedly by pouring the wa¬ 
ter away after each washing, and add¬ 
ing fresh to keep it from blowing about. 
Rinse in warm lather of fine soap, and, 


after di ving, rub them with dry bran 
or corn-meal. Dust them, and finish 
with rubbing cold cream well into the 
skin. This effectually removes the 
roughness caused by housework, and 
should be used every-day, first remov¬ 
ing ink or vegetable stains with acid. 

(2) Soap is an indispensable article 
for cleansing hands, but it often leaves 
the skin rough; cracks on the hands 
come, and soap is often unpleasant. 
Use honey, rub it on when the skin is 
dry; moisten a little, rub harder, use a 
little more water ;fina!ly V7ash thorough¬ 
ly and your hands will be as clean as 
though the strongest soap were used, 
and no cracks or roughness will annoy 
you. 

(3) Keep a dish of Indian meal on the 
toilet stand near the soap, and rub the 
meal freely on the hands after soap¬ 
ing them for washing. It will surprise 
3 7 ou, if you have not tried it, to find 
how it will cleanse and soften the sKin, 
and prevent chapping. 

(4) Before retiring take a large pair 
of gloves and spread mutton-tallow in¬ 
side, also all over the hands. Wear 
the gloves all night, and wash the 
hands with olive-oil and white castile 
soap the next morning. 

(5) After cleansing the hands with 
soap, rub them well with oatmeal while 
still wet. Honey is also very good; 
used in the same way lemon-juice, 
well rubbed in at night. 

Hands, To whiten the.— (1) Keep 
some oatmeal on the washstand, and, 
as often as the hands are washed, rub 
a little oatmeal over them; then rinse it 
off, and, when dry, put on a little bit 
of pomade, made as follows: Take 
about five cents’ worth each of white 
wax, spermacetic, and powdered cam¬ 
phor, and olive-oil enough to make it 
the thickness of soap; put it in a gali¬ 
pot, and let it stand in an oven to melt; 
mix it up, and, when cold, it will be 
found very good for the hands. Gloves, 
worn either in the day or night, will 
help to keep the hands white. 

(21 A cake of brown Windsor soap 
scraped into thin flakes, and then 
mixed with a teaspoonful of eau de 
cologne, and a tablespoonful of lemon- 
juice, is said to make a useful prepara¬ 
tion for this purpose. There is noth¬ 
ing injurious to the skin in the compo¬ 
sition. When the soap has been 
thoroughly blended with the lemon 
juice and eau de cologne, it should be 





24 


THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


pressed into a mold—one made of card¬ 
board in the form of a small box, the 
size of a cake of soap, will answer the 
purpose—and allowed to dry before it 
is used. 

(3) Half an ounce of white wax, half 
an ounce of spermaceti, quarter of an 
ounce or powdered camphor. Mix 
them with as much olive-oil as will 
form them into a very stiff paste,- and 
use as often as you wash your hands. 

(4) Mixtures of two parts of glycer¬ 
ine, one part ammonia, and a little 
rose-water whiten and soften the hands. 

Headache.—(1) All ships sailing in 
hot climates carry a supply of limes, 
whose acid juice is a remedy for bil¬ 
iousness. L)r. Haire says he has cured 
many victims of sick-headache with 
the following simpie prescription: 
When the first symptoms of headache 
appear, take a teaspoonful of lemon 
juice, clear, fiften minutes before each 
meal, and the same uose at bed-time. 
Follow this up until all symptoms are 
past, taking no other medicines, and 
you will soon be freed from your peri¬ 
odical nuisance. Sick-headache is the 
signal of distress which the stomach 
puts up to inform us that there is an 
over alkaline condition of its fluids— 
that it needs a natural acid to restore 
the battery to its normal working con¬ 
dition. Lemonade without sugar, 
plain lemon-juice and water, is a grate¬ 
ful and medicinal beverage for a per 
son of bilious habit, allaying feverish¬ 
ness and promoting sleep and appetite. 
Some who cannot afford to be sick may 
be willing to make a conscientious trial 
of the above remedy, which is neither 
patented nor costly. To make it a sov¬ 
ereign remedy it will in most cases need 
the help of a reform in diet, or a let-up 
from work and care—one or both. In 
other words, the same causes will be 
apt to reproduce the effect—as the 
pinching boot will recreate corns where 
they have been removed. 

(2) A new remedy for headache has 
been found by Dr. Haley, an Austral¬ 
ian physician, who says* that for some 
years past he has found minimum doses 
of iodide of ; potassium of great serv¬ 
ice in frontal headache; that is, a 
heavy, dull headache, situated over the 
brow, and accompanied by languor, 
hoilliness and a feeling a genera*! dis¬ 
comfort, with distate for fool, which 
sometimes approaches to nausea, can 
be completely removed by a two grain 


dose dissolved in half a wiueglacsful of 
water, and this quietly sipped, the 
whole quantity being taken in about ten 
minutes. In many cases, he adds, the 
effect of these small doses has been 
simply wonderful, as, for instance, a 
person, who a quarter of an hour ago 
was feeling mostmiserable, and refused 
all food, wishing only for quietness, 
would now take a good meal and re¬ 
sume his wonted cheerfulness. If this 
cure of Dr. Haley’s is in reality a prac¬ 
tical one, he will merit, for the discov¬ 
ery, the gratitude of suffering millions. 

(3) Dr. Lauder Brunton says: ‘'The 
administration of a brisk purgative, or 
small doses of Epsom salts, thrice a day, 
is a most effectual remedy for frontal 
headache when combined with consti¬ 
pation ; but if the bowels be regular, 
the morbid processes on which it de¬ 
pends seem to be checked, and the 
headache removed even more effectual¬ 
ly by nitro-hydrochloric acid, or by al¬ 
kalies, given before meals. If the 
headache' is immediately above the 
eyebrows, the acid is best; but if it be 
a little higher up, just where the hair 
begins, the alkalies appear to me to be 
“more effectual. At the same time that 
the headache is removed, the feelings 
of sleepiness and weariness, which fre¬ 
quently lead the patients to claim that 
they rise up more tired than they lie 
down, generally disappear.” 

(4) Dr. Hall states that sick headache 
is the result of eating too much and ex¬ 
ercising too little. Nine times in ten 
the cause is in the fact that the stom¬ 
ach was not able to digest the food last 
introduced into it, either from its hav¬ 
ing been unsuitable, or excessive in 
quantity. A diet of bread and butter 
with ripe fruits or berries, with moder¬ 
ate, continuous exercise in the opeu air, 
sufficient to keep up a gentle perspira¬ 
tion, would cure almost every case in a 
short time. .Two teaspoonfuls of pow¬ 
dered charcoal in a half glass of water, 
and drank, generally gives instant re¬ 
lief. 

(5) Put a handful of salt into a quart 
of water, add one ounce of spirits of 
hartshorn, and half an ounce of cam¬ 
phorated spirits of wine. Put them 
quickly into a bottle, and cork tightly 
to prevent the escape of the spirits. 
Boak a piece of rag with the mixture, 
and apply it to the head ; wet the rag 
afresh as soon as it gets heated. 

(6) A mixture of ice and salt, in pro¬ 
portion of one to one-half, applied to 









THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


25 


the head, frequently gives instant relief 
from acute headache. It should be 
tied up in a small linen cloth, like a 
pad, and held as near as possible to the 
seat of the pain. 

(7) For sick-headache, induced by 
bilious derangement, steep five cents’ 
worth of senna and camomile flowers in 
a little water, to make a strong decoc¬ 
tion, and take. It has been tried suc¬ 
cessfully in various cases. 

(8) Coarse brown paper soaked in 
vinegar and placed on the forehead is 
good for a sick-headache. If the eye¬ 
lids are gently bathed in cool water 
the pain in the head is generally al¬ 
layed. , 

(9) Nervous headache is said to be 
instantly relieved by shampooing the 
head with a quart of cold water in which 
a dessertspoonful of soda has been dis¬ 
solved . 

Heartburn. — (1) Relief will be ob¬ 
tained by using the following mixture, 
which has been much recommended: 
Juice of one orange, water, and lump 
sugar to flavor; and in proportion to 
the acidity of the orange, about half a 
teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda. 
Dissolve the sugar in the water, add 
the orange-juice, then putin the soda. 
Stir, and drink while effervescing. 

(2) A small piece of chalk put in a 
pitcher of water, without imparting 
any taste whatever to the same, will 
exercise a corrective effect upon the 
stomachs of those who are troubled 
with acidity or heartburn, as it is 
called. 

Hemorrhage.—(1) Hemorrhage of 
the lungs can be instantly cured by 
throwing into the mouth of the patient, 
from a vial, one or two teaspoonfuls of 
chloroform,according to the severeness 
of the attack. It will give instant re¬ 
lief to the greatest suffering, and stop 
the most severe case of bleeding of 
the lungs. 

(2) To stop hemorrhage of the lungs, 
cord the thighs, and arms above the 
elbow, with small, strong cords tightly 
drawn and tied. It wall stop the flow 
of blood almost instantly, as it has done 
for the writer many times. It was rec¬ 
ommended by a physician of experi¬ 
ence. 

(3) Spitting or vomiting of blood may 
be stopped by sage juice mixed with a 
little honey. Take three teaspoonfuls, 
and repeat, if necessary, in about fif¬ 
teen minutes, 


(4) Hemorrhages of the lungs or 
stomach are promptly checked by 
small doses of salt. The patient should 
be kept as quiet as possible. 

Hiccough.-Hiccough effects some 
persons very persistently, and where a 
simpler remedy does not check it, a 
half teaspoonful of niter in a half tum¬ 
bler of water is recommended as in in¬ 
stantaneous remedy. 

Hoarseness.—(1) Horseradish will 
afford instantaneous relief in most ob¬ 
stinate cases of hoarseness. The root, 
of course, possesses the most virtue, 
though the leaves are good till they 
dry, when they lose their strength. 
The root is best when it is green. The 
person who will use it freely just be¬ 
fore beginning to speak, will not be 
troubled with hoarseness. Boiled 
down and sweetened into a thick syrup, 
will give relief in the severest cases. 

(2) Take a small quantity of dry, 
powdered borax,place it on the tongue, 
let it slowly dissolve and run down 
the throat. It is also good to keep the 
throat moist at night and prevent 
coughing. 

(3) Hoarseness and tickling in the 
throat are best relieved by the gargle 
of the white of an egg beaten to a froth 
in half a glass of warmed, sweetened 
water. 

Hot Milk as a Stimulant. -If any 

one is fatigued, the best restorative is 
hot milk, a tumbler of the beverage as 
hot as can be sipped. This is far more 
of a restorative than any alcoholic 
drink. 

Hot Water as a Remedy.—There 

is no remedy of such general applica¬ 
tion and none so easily attainable as 
water, and yet nine persons in ten will 
pass it by in an emergency to seek for 
something of far less efficacy. 

There are few cases of illness where 
water should not occupy the highest 
place as a remedial agent. 

A strip of flannel or a napkin folded 
lengthwise and dipped in hotw T aterand 
wrung out and then applied around the 
neck of a child that has the croup will 
usually bring relief in ten minutes. 

A towel folded several times and 
dipped in hot water and quickly wrung 
and applied over the seat of the pain 
in toothache or neuralgia will general¬ 
ly afford prompt relief. This treatment 
in colic works like magic.' I have seen 
cases that have resisted other tneat- 







26 


THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


ment for hours yield to this in ten min¬ 
utes. There is nothing that will so 
promptly cut short a congestion of the 
lungs, sore throat or rheumatism as 
hot water when applied promptly and 
thoroughly. 

Pieces of cotton batting dipped in hot 
water and kept applied to old sores or 
new cuts, bruises and sprains, is the 
treatment now generally adopted in 
hospitals. I have seen a sprained ankle 
cured in an hour by showering it with 
hot water, poured from a height of 
three feet. 

Tepid water acts promptly as an 
emetic, and hot water taken freely half 
an hour before bed-time is the best 
of cathartics in the case of constipation, 
while it has a most soothing effect on 
the stomach and bowels. This “treat¬ 
ment continued for a few months, with 
proper attention to diet, will cure any 
curable case of dyspepsia. 

How People get Sick.— Eating 
too much and too fast; swallowing im¬ 
perfectly masticated food; using too 
much fluid at meals ; drinking poison¬ 
ous whisky and other intoxicating 
drinks; repeatedly using poison as 
medicines; keeping late hours at night, 
and sleeping late in the morning; 
wearing clothing too tight; wearing 
thin shoes; neglecting to wash the body 
sufficiently to keep the pores open; ex¬ 
changing the warm clothes worn in a 
warm room during the day for costumes 
and exposure incident to evening 
parties; compressing the stomach to 
gratify a vain and foolish passion for 
dress; keeping up constant excitement; 
fretting the mind with borrowed 
troubles; swallowing quack nostrums 
for every imaginary ill; taking meals 
at irregular intervals, etc. 

Hydrophobia.—(1) Elecampane is 
a plant well known to most persons, 
and is to be found in many of our gar¬ 
dens. Immediately after being bitten, 
take one ounce of the root of the plant, 
the green root is perhaps preferable, 
but the dried will answer, and may be 
found in our drug stores; slice or 
bruise, put in a pint of fresh milk, boil 
down to half a pint, strain, and when 
cold drink it, fasting at least six hours 
afterward. The next morning repeat 
the dose prepared at the last, and this 
will be sufficient. It is recommended 
that after each dose nothing be eaten 
for at least six hours. 

v 2) The following is said to be a cure 


for hydrophobia: Take two tablespoon¬ 
fuls of fresh chloride of lime, mix it 
with one-half pint of water, and with 
this wash keep the wound constantly 
bathed and frequently renewed. The 
chloride gas possesses the power of de¬ 
composing the tremendous poison, and 
renders mild and harmless that venom 
against whose resistless attack the ar¬ 
tillery of medical science has been so 
long directed in vain. It is necessary 
to add that this wash must be applied 
as soon as possible. 

Hydrophobia, To Prevent.— (1) 

The bites of mad dogs have been ren¬ 
dered harmless by immediately cau¬ 
terizing the wound with a saturated so¬ 
lution of carbolic acid, and keeping it 
constantly wet with a weaker solution 
of the same, at the same time giving 
the patient, according to age, from two 
to six drops of the spirits of ammonia 
in water, every two hours for twelve or 
fourteen hours. The wound is not al¬ 
lowed to dry for an instant for three or 
four days. 

(2) Take immediately warm vinegar, 
or tepid w T ater,and wash the wound very 
clean; then dry it, and pour upon the 
wound a few drops of muriatic acid. 
Mineral acids destroy the poison of the 
saliva, and its evil effect is neutralized. 

Hysterics. —This complaint i3 con¬ 
fined chiefly to females. A tit of hys¬ 
terics is generally the result of some 
natural aud immediate cause, and until 
this is discovered and removed, the 
patient will always be subject to these 
tits. When a person is seized with a fit 
the dress should be loosened, fresh air 
admitted, cold water dashed in the face, 
and salts or singed feathers applied to 
the nostrils. If consciousness does not 
then return, a draught of sal-volatile 
and water should be given, and if the 
patient be still insensible, the temples 
and the nape of the neck should be 
rubbed with brandy. When hysterics 
can be traced to impaired natural ac¬ 
tion, equal portions of pennyroyal and 
wormwood should be steeped in boiling 
water, and suffered to simmer by the 
fire until the virtue of the herbs is ex¬ 
tracted. It should then be allowed to 
cool, and half a pint be taken twice or 
thrice a day, succeeded on each occa¬ 
sion by a compound asafetida pill, un¬ 
til the desired relief is afforded. 

Indigestion.— I have been troubled 
for years- with indigestion, sick head- 






THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


ache and constipation, writes a lady, 
and have been greatly helped by drop¬ 
ping all remedies and drinking a coffee- 
cupful of as warm water as can be 
drank comfortably, the first thing on 
rising and just before retiring, always 
on an empry stomach. It will cause 
an unpleasant feeling at first, but per¬ 
severe and you will be surprised at the 
benefit received. If the kidneys are at 
fault, drink water blood-warm. 

e Ingrowing Toe Nails.—As this is a 
very painful malady, it may be worth 
a great deal to some of our readers to 
know that the trouble is not with 
the nail, but with the flesh, which gets 
pushed upon it, thereby becoming in¬ 
flamed, and the inflammation and 
swelling are kept up by the presence 
of the nail, which then acts as a foreign 
body. To cure it, take the neighbor¬ 
ing toe—which, by the way, is really 
the offender—and with it press the 
swollen flesh down and away from the 
nail, then bind the two firmly together 
with adhesive strips, which may be 
had at any drug store. If the strips 
get loose, and the flesh slips up on the 
nail again, readjust the toes and put 
on fresh plaster until the flesh rehabit¬ 
uates itself to its former place. 

Intermittent Fever, Salt in.— 

Take a handful of table salt and roast 
in a clean oven with moderate heat till 
it is brown—the color of roasted coffee. 
Dose for an adult, a soupspoonful dis¬ 
solved in a glass of warm water; take 
at once. When the fever appears at 
intervals of two, three, or four days, 
the remedy should be taken fasting on 
the morning of the day following the 
fever. To overcome the thirst, a very 
little water should be taken through a 
straw. During the forty-eight hours 
which follow the taking of the salt, the 
appetite should be satisfied with chick¬ 
en and beef broth only; it is especially 
necessary to observe a severe diet and 
avoid taking cold. The remedy is 
very simple and harmless and has nev¬ 
er been known to fail where it has been 
given trial. 

Jaundice.— Red iodide of mercury, 
seven grains; iodide of potassium, nine 
grains ; distilled water, one ounce; mix. 
Commence by giving six drops three or 
four times a day, increasing one drop a 
day until twelve or fifteen drops are 
given at a dose. Give in a little water, 
immediately after meals. If it causes 


a griping sensation in the bowels, and 
fullness in the head, when you get up to 
twelve or fifteen drops, go back to six 
drops, and up again as before. 

Knock- Knees.—A correspondent 
says: “I commenced the practice of 
placing asmall book between my knees, 
and tying a handkerchief tight round 
my ankles. This I did two^j or three 
times a day, increasing the substance 
at every fresh trial, until I could hold a 
brick with ease breadthways. When I 
first commenced this practice I was as 
badly knock-kneed as possible; butuow 
I am as straightas anyone.. I likewise 
made it a practice of lying on my back 
in bed, with my legs crossed and my 
knees fixed tightly together. This, I 
believe, did me a great deal of good.” 

Laxatives.—Infusions of Epsom 
salts and senna are often taken as laxa¬ 
tives, or opening medicines. It is a well 
known fact that & teaspoonful of salts 
in a tumbler of cold water, if drank be¬ 
fore breakfast, is as effectual a dose as 
the usual ounce. Senna, too, if steeped 
in cold water, is equally efficacious, 
and free from the nauseous bitter taste 
which it has when infused in boiling 
water. 

Limbs, Frozen.—Dissolve from 
one quarter to half a pound of alum in a 
gallon of warm water, and immerse the 
feet or hands in it when frozen, for ten 
or fifteen minutes, and a cure will be 
effected. 

Lip Salve.—Melt a lump of sugar in 
one and a half tablespoonfuls of rose¬ 
water; mix it with two tablespoonfuls 
of sweet oil, a piece of spermaceti half 
as large as an English walnut; simmer 
the whole, and turn it into boxes. 

Liquor Appetite. -(1) Dr. Unger 
insists that the following remedy will 
cure the cravings of the worst drunk¬ 
ard in the land: Take one pound of 
best, fresh, quill red Peruvian bark, 
powder it, and soak it in one pint of 
diluted alcohol. Afterward strain and 
evaporate it down to half a pint. Di¬ 
rections for its use: Dose—a teaspoon¬ 
ful every three hours the first and sec¬ 
ond day, and occasionally moisten the 
tongue between the doses. It acts like 
quinine, and the patient can tell by a 
headache if he is getting too much. 
The third day take as previous, but re¬ 
duce the dose to one-half teaspoonful. 
Afterward reduce the dose to fifteen 







/ 


128 THE FA MIL Y DO CTOE BOOK. 


drops, and then down to ten, then down 
to five drops. To make a cure it takes 
from five to fifteen days, and in ex¬ 
treme cases thirty days. Seven days 
are about the average in which a cure 
can be effected. 

(2) At a festival of one of our reform¬ 
atory institutions, a gentleman is re¬ 
ported to have said : “ I overcame the 
appetite for liquor by a recipe given to 
me by old Dr. Hatfield, one of those 
good old physicians who do not have 
a percentage from a neighboring drug¬ 
gist. The prescription is simply an 
orange every morning half an hour be¬ 
fore breakfast. ‘ Take that’, said the 
doctor, ‘and you will want neither 
liquor nor medicine.’ I have done so 
regularly, and find that liquor has be¬ 
come repulsive. The taste of the 
orange is in the saliva of my tongue; 
and it would be as well to mix water 
and oil as ruin with my taste.” The 
recipe is simple, and has the recommen¬ 
dation that it can do no harm if it does 
no good. 

(3) The following recipe has been 
found efficacious in a great many cases: 
Sulphate of iron, five grains; pepper¬ 
mint water, eleven drams; spirits of 
nutmeg, one dram. This preparation 
acts as a tonic and stimulant, and so 
partially supplies the place of the ac¬ 
customed liquor, and prevents the ab¬ 
solute physical and moral prostration 
that often follows a sudden breaking 
off from the use of stimulating dridks. 
It is to be taken in quantities equal to 
an ordinary dram, and as-ofteu as the 
desire for a dram returns. 

Liver Complaint.— (1) Twenty 
grains of extract of dandeliori, divided 
into four pills, and to be taken four 
times a day ; it acts on the liver, and is 
also a tonic for debilitated persons. 

(2) A cup of fresh buttermilk every 
' day is said to be a cure for liver com¬ 
plaint. 

Lock-jaw.— (i) If any person is 
threatened or taken with lock-jaw from 
injuries of the arms, legs or feet, do 
not wait for a doctor, but put the part 
injured in the following preparation: 
Put hot wood ashes into water as warm 
as can be borne; if the injured pait 
cannotbe put into water, then wet tliick 
folded cloths in the water and apply 
them to the part as soon as possible, 
and at the same time bathe the 
back-bone from the neck down with 
some laxative stimulant—say cayenne 


pepper and water, or mustard and w r a- 
ter; good vinegar is better than v r ater; 
it should be as hot as the patient can 
bear it. Don’t hesitate; go to work and 
do it, and don’t stop until the jaws will 
come open. No person need die of 
lock-jaw if these directions are followed. 

(2) The following is said to be a posi¬ 
tive cure: Let any one who has an at¬ 
tack of the lock-jaw take a small quan¬ 
tity of spirits of turpentine, warm it 
and pour it on the w T ound, no matter 
w T here the wound is or what is its nat-* 
ure. Relief will follow in less than one 
minute. Turpentine is also a sovereign 
remedy for croup. Saturate a piece of 
flannel with it and place on to the 
throat, chest, and, in severe cases, three 
to five drops, on a lump of sugar may 
be taken internally. 

Lungs, To ascertain the state of 
the. —Draw in as much breath as you 
conveniently can. then count as long 
as possible in a slow and audible voice 
without drawing in more breath. The 
number of seconds must be carefully 
noted. In a consumptive the time does 
not exceed ten, and i3 frequently less 
then six seconds; in pleurisy and pneu¬ 
monia it ranges from nine to four sec¬ 
onds. When the fungs are sound the 
time will range as high as from tw r enty 
to thirty-five seconds . To expand the 
lungs, go into the air, stand erect, 
throw back the head and shoulders, 
and draw in the air through the nostrils 
as much as possible. After having 
then filled the lungs, raise your arms, 
still extended, and suck in the air 
When you have thus forced the arms 
backward, with the chest open, change 
the process by which you draw in your 
breath, till the lungs are emptied. Go 
through the process several times a day 
and it will enlarge the chest, give the 
lungs better play, and serve very much 
to ward off consumption. . 

Lungs, the. To protect from dus fc. 

—In farm labor one has often to en¬ 
counter a hurtful amount of dust. A 
simple and cheap protection from such 
an annoyance is to get a piece of sponge 
large enough to cover the nostrils and 
mouth, hollow it out on one side with 
a pair of scissors, to fit the face, attach 
a string to each side and tie it on. First 
wet it "well, and squeeze out most of 
the water. Repeat this whenever the 
sponge becomes dry. All the dust will 
be caught in the damp cavities, and it 
is easily washed out. 






*v 


HE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK . 


Malaria, Preventives of. —Scarce¬ 
ly a section of our beautiful country is 
free from malarial disease in some of 
its forms. Many localities formerly 
free from malaria have recently been 
visited by this insidious foe of human¬ 
ity. Two reasons are given for this re¬ 
sult: First, the ponds and swamps 
have been dried up, and the lower forms 
I of organic matter have been exposed to 
the air, and second, wells and springs 
have become so low that the water is 
very impure, and no doubt its use pro¬ 
duces an unhealthy state of the human 
body. 

If the use of impure water alone were 
the cause of malarial difficulties the 
remedy would be simple, namely, to 
substitute pure water instead, if it 
could be had, or by filtration and other 
means, purify what was at hand. 

The malarial influence arising from 
swamps or marshes can only be coun¬ 
teracted by aerating the soil and thus 
etting rid of the lower organisms resi- 
ent there. By means of drainage the 
sour soil water is carried off, the air 
enters and decay is completed—the poi¬ 
son is destroyed and a more healthful 
condition ensues. 

But there are vast stretches of coun¬ 
try where these means cannot be em¬ 
ployed, and other methods must be 
rovided. It is now pretty well proven 
y actual plantings in California of the 
blue gum tree, or Eucalyptus of Aus¬ 
tralia, that by its use over a sufficient 
area the malarial tendencies can be 
counteracted. Unfortunately, by act¬ 
ual test, we find that the Eucalyptus 
Globosa will not endure the cold of this, 
section of the Union. & 

What then can we employ ? Professor 
Maury, before our late internecine war, 
proved at the Washington Observatory 
that extensive plantations of the com¬ 
mon sunflower will, during its growing 
season, counteract malaria. These can 
be grown all over our states, and should 
be extensively tried. 

The common willow, being a coarse 
feeder and rapid grower, reveling in wet 
and swampy land, has also been com¬ 
mended as one of the very best agents 
for the destruction of malarial germs. 
Its roots spread widely through the 
soil, while its leafage is simply enor¬ 
mous in proportion to its woody develop¬ 
ment.' The three sorts of willow grow 
with great rapidity,but more immediate 
effects may be produced by planting 
sprouts of the r osier or basket willow 


thickly all over the whole of a wet or 
swampy surface soil. 

This would be a remunerative prod¬ 
uct aside from its destruction of ma¬ 
laria. The plan is worthy of trial. 

Measles. —Measles are an acute in¬ 
flammation of the skin, internal and 
external, combined with an infectious 
fever. 

Symptoms. —Chills,succeeded by great 
heat, languor, and drowsiness, pains in 
the head, back and limbs, quick pulse, 
soreness of throat, thirst, nausea and 
vomiting,a dry cough, and high colored 
urine. These symptoms increase in 
violence for four days. The eyes are 
inflamed and weak, aud the nose pours 
forth a watery secretion, with frequent 
sneezing. There is considerable in¬ 
flammation in the larynx, windpipe, 
and bronchial tubes, with soreness of 
the breast and hoarseness. About the 
fourth day the skin is covered with a 
breaking out which produces heat and 
itching, and is red in spots, upon the 
face first, gradually spreading over the 
whole body. It goes off in the same 
way, from the face first and then from 
the body, and the hoarseness and other 
symptoms decline with it; at last the 
outside skin peels off in scales. 

Treatment.— In a mild form, nothing 
is required but a light diet, slightly 
acid drinks, and flaxseed or slippery 
elm tea. Warm herb teas, and fre¬ 
quent sponge baths with tepid water, 
serve to allay the fever ;care should be 
taken not to let the patient take cold. 

If the fever is very high, and prevents 
the rash coming out, a slight dose of 
salts, or a nauseating dose of ipecac, 
lobelia, or hive syrup should be given, 
and followed by teaspoonful doses ot 
compound tincture of Virginia snake- 
root until the fever is allayed. If the 
patient from any derangement takes on 
a low typhoid type of fever, and the 
rash does not come out until the sev¬ 
enth day, and is then of a dark and 
livid color, tonics and stimulants must 
be given, aud the expectoration pro¬ 
moted by some suitable remedy. The 
room should be kept dark to protect 
the inflamed eyes. As long as the fev¬ 
er remains the patient should be kept 
in bed. Exposure may cause pneu¬ 
monia, which, in other words, is acute 
inflammation of the lungs. Keep in 
the room as long as the cough lasts. 
There is always danger of the lungs 
being left in an inflamed state after 










no THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


the measles, unless the greatest care is 
taken not to suffer the patient to take 
cold. 

Should there be much pain, and a 
severe cough, this must be treated as a 
separate disease, with other remedies. 

Medical Qualities of Lemons.— 

A good deal has been said about the 
healthfulness of lemons. The- latest 
advice is how to use them so that they 
will do the most good, as follows: 
Most people know the benefit of lemon¬ 
ade before breakfast,but few know that 
it is more than doubled by takinganoth- 
er at night also. The way to get the 
better of the bilious system without 
blue pill or quinine is to take the juice 
of one, two or three lemons, as appetite 
craves, in as much ice water as makes 
it pleasant to drink without sugar be¬ 
fore going to bed. In the morning, on 
rising, at least half an. hour before 
breakfast, take the juice of one lemon 
in a goblet of water. This will clear the 
system of humor and bile with efficien¬ 
cy, without any of the weakening effects 
of calomel or congress water. People 
should not irritate the stomach by eat¬ 
ing lemons clear; the powerful acid of 
the juice, which is always most corro¬ 
sive, invariably produces inflammation 
after a while, but properly diluted, so 
that it does not burn or draw the 
throat, it does its medical work with¬ 
out harm, and, when the stomach is 
clear of food, has abundant opportu¬ 
nity to work (& T er the system thorough¬ 
ly, says a medical authority. 

Menstruation,Painful, Anodj ne 
for. —Extract of stramonium and sul¬ 
phate of quinine, each sixteen grains ; 
macrotin,eight grains; morcrotin, eight 
grains; morphine, one grain; make in¬ 
to eight pills. Dose, one pill, repeat¬ 
ing once or twice only, forty or fifty 
minutes apart, if the pain does not sub¬ 
side before this time. Pain must sub¬ 
side under the use of this pill, and 
costiveness is not increased. 

Moth Patches. — (1) It is said that 
the drinking of hard cider—tw T o or 
three glasses per day—will remove 
motli spots. At least, so writes a cor¬ 
respondent who has tried it with suc¬ 
cess. While drinking the cider let tea 
and coffee alone. 

(2) Moth patches may be removed 
from the face by the following remedy : 
Into a pint bottle of rum put a table¬ 
spoonful of flour of sulphur. Apply 


this to the patches once a day, and they 
will disappear in two or three weeks. 

(3) Bathe the face two or three times 
a day in borax water; a teaspoonful of 
powdered borax in a basin of warm 
water. 

Mumps.—This disease, most com¬ 
mon among children, begins with sore¬ 
ness and stiffness in the side of the 
neck. Soon a swelling of the parotid 
gland takes place, which is painful and 
continues to increase for four or five 
days, sometimes making it difficult to 
swallow, or op°n the mouth. The 
swelling sometimes comes on one side 
at a time, but commonly upon both. 
There is often heat and sometimes fet - 
er, with a dry skin, quick pulse, furred 
tongue, constipated bowels, and scanty 
and high-colored urine. The disease 
is contagious. 

Treatment .—Keep the face and neck 
warm, and avoid taking cold. Drink 
warm herb teas, and if the symptoms 
are severe, four to six grains of Dover’s 
powder; or if there is costiveness, a 
slight physic, and observe a very simple 
diet. If the disease is aggravated by 
taking cold, and is very severe or is 
translated to other glands, physic must 
be used freely, leeches applied to the 
swelling, or cooling poultices. Sweat¬ 
ing must be resorted to in this case. 

Nails, Tlie.—Great attention should 
be paid to keeping the nails in good 
order. They should be brushed at 
least twice a day, and the skin round 
the lower part, should be kept down by 
rubbing with a soft towel. The sides 
of the nails need clipping about once 
in a week. If they become stained, 
wash them well with soap, and after 
rinsing off the soap well, brush them 
with lemon j uice. 

Nervousness.—This unhealthy state 
of system depends upon general debil¬ 
ity. It is often inherited from birth, 
and as often brought on by excess of'- 
sedentary occupation, overstrained 
employment of the brain, mental emo¬ 
tion, dissipation and excess. The 
nerves consist of a structure of fibers 
or cords passing through the entire 
body, branching off from, and having a 
connection with each other, and finally 
centers on the brain. They are the 
organs of feeling and sensation of 
every kind, and through them the 
mind operates upon the body. It is 
obvious, therefore, that what is termed 












THE FAMILY DOCTOR ROOK. 


31 


he “ nervous system ” has an impor¬ 
tant part in the bodily functions; and 
upon them not only much of the health 
but happiness, depends. 

Treatment. —The cure of nervous 
complaints lies rather in moral than in 
medical treatment. For although 
much good may be effected by tonics, 
such as bark, quinine, etc., there is far 
more benefit to be derived from atten¬ 
tion to diet and regimen. In such 
cases, solid food should preponderate 
over liquid, and the indulgence in warm 
and relaxing fluids should be espe¬ 
cially avoided; plain and nourishing 
meat, as beef or mutton, a steak or 
chop, together with half a pint of bitter 
ale or stout, forming the best dinner. 
Cocoa is preferable to tea; vegetables 
should be but sparingly eaten. * Seden¬ 
tary pursuits should be cast aside as 
much as possible, but where they are 
compulsory, every spare moment 
should be devoted to outdoor employ¬ 
ment and brisk exercise. Early bed¬ 
time and early rising will prove bene¬ 
ficial, and the use of the cold shower 
bath is excellent. Gymnastic exercises, 
fencing, horse-riding, rowing, danc¬ 
ing and other pursuits which call forth 
the energies, serve also to brace and 
invigorate the nervous system. It will 
also be as well to mingle with society, 
frequent public assemblies and amuse¬ 
ments, and thus dispel that morbid de¬ 
sire for seclusion and quietude which, 
if indulged in to excess, renders a per¬ 
son unfitted for intercourse with man¬ 
kind, and materially interferes with ad¬ 
vancement, in life. 

Nettle Rash.—This disease takes 
its name from its being attended by 
an eruption similar to what is pro¬ 
duced by the stiDging of nettles. The 
causes of this complaint are by no 
means obvious; butit seems to proceed 
either from the perspiration being 
checked, or from some irritating matter 
in the stomach. In all cases there pre¬ 
vails considerable itching and some 
heat in the parts affected; and in some 
constitutions a slight degree of fever 
either precedes or attends the eruption. 
Its duration seldom exceeds three or 
four days. 

In some cases nettle rash is accom¬ 
panied with large wheels or bumps, 
which appear of a solid nature, with¬ 
out any cavity or head, containing ei¬ 
ther water or other fluid. 

Half a teaspoonful of magnesia, and 


the same quantity of cream of tartar 
mixed in half a teacupful of milk, an 
hour before breakfast, and repeated as 
required, will be found very effica¬ 
cious. 

Neuralgia.— (1) A very simple relief 
for neuralgia is to boil a small handful 
of lobelia in half a pint of water till 
the strength is out of the herb, then 
strain it off and add a teaspoonful of 
fine salt. Wring cloths out of the 
liquid as hot as possible, and spread 
over the part affected. It acts like a 
charm. Change the cloths as soon as 
cold till the pain is all gone; then cover 
the place with a soft dry covering till 
perspiration is over, to prevent taking 
cold. Rheumatism can often be re¬ 
lieved by application to the painful 
parts, of cloths wet in a weak solution 
of sal soda water. If there is inflam¬ 
mation in the joints the cure is very 
quick. The wash should be lukewarm. 

(2j Procure a half-ounce of the oil of 
peppermint, and, with a camel’s hair 
brush, paint the parts of the face where 
the pain is felt. We have found it an 
excellent application in all forms of 
pain in the face. A drop applied to the 
cavity of an aching tooth, and confined 
there with a pellet of cotton, will arrest 
the pain. 

(3) A noted cure for neuralgia is hot 
vinegar vaporized. Heat a flat-iron 
sufficiently hot to waporize the vinegar 
cover this with some woolen material, 
which is moistened with vinegar, and 
the apparatus is then applied at once 
to the painful spot. The application 
may be repeated until the pain disap¬ 
pears. 

(4) Have a flannel cap made to fasten 
under the chin ; wear three nights ; let 
three nights pass, then put on again if 
necessary. For neuralgia in eyebrows, 
bind a strip of flannel around the head; 
rub the teeth with equal parts of salt 
and alum, pulverized, on a soft, wet bit 
of linen. 

(5) Squeeze the juice of a good-sized 
lemon into a tumbler of water, and 
every half hour take two of three 
mouthfuls of this liquid. If relief is not 
experienced within twenty-four hours, 
continue the remedy. In slight cases 
the above has often proved an effectual 
cure. 

(6) Many cases of neuralgia have been 
cured by the common field thistle. 
The leaves are macerated and used on 
the parts affected as a poultice, while 








32 


TED FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


a small quantity of the leaves are made 
a tea of, and a small wine of the decoc¬ 
tion is taken as a drink before each 
meal. 

(7) A simple remedy for neuralgia is 
horseradish. Grate and mix it in vin¬ 
egar, the same as for table purposes, 
and apply to the temple when the face 
or the head is affected, or the wrist 
when the pain is in the arm or shoul¬ 
der. 

(8) Half a dram of sal-ammoniac in 
one ounce of camphor water, to be 
taken a teaspoonfui at a dose, and the 
dose repeated several times, at inter¬ 
vals of five minutes, if the pain be not 
relieved at once. 

(9) Persons troubled with neuralgia 
will find this a cure, if they try it. 
Two drops of laudanum in half tea¬ 
spoonful of warm water and dropped 
into the ears; it will give immediate re¬ 
lief. 

(10) It is said that the fumes of sugar 
snuffed' up the nose will cure ordinary 
cases of neuralgia. Put a small quan¬ 
tity of sugar on a hot shovel and try it 
as directed. 

Nipples, Sore.—Pour boiling water 
on nutgalls (oak bark if galls cannot 
be obtained), and when cold, strain it 
off, and bathe the parts with it, or dip 
the cloth in the tea, and apply it; or 
twenty grains of tannin may be dis¬ 
solved in an ounce,, of water, and ap¬ 
plied. The application of a few drops, 
of collodion to the raw surface is high¬ 
ly recommended. It forms, when dry, 

, a perfect coating over the diseased sur¬ 
face. 

Nose Bleed.—(1) Snuffing up pow¬ 
dered alum will generally control 
troublesome bleeding from the nose. 
It will also almost always stop exces¬ 
sive hemorrhage from a cavity caused 
by the extraction of a tooth, by being 
placed in it. 

(2) The best remedy for bleeding at 
the nose, as given by Dr. Gleason in 
one of his lectures, is in the vigorous 
motion of the jaws, as if in the act of 
mastication. In the case of a child, a 
wad of paper should be placed in its 
mouth, and the child should be in¬ 
structed to chew it hard. It is the mo¬ 
tion of the jaws that stops the flow of 
blood. This remedy is so very simple 
that many will feel inclined to laugh at 
it, but it has never been known to fail 
in a single instance, even in very se¬ 
vere cases. 


(3) .Lint, dipped in the nettle juice 
and put up the nostril, has been known 
to stay the bleeding of the nose when 
all other remedies have failed ; fourteen 
or fifteen of>the seeds, ground into 
powder and taken daily, will cure the 
swelling of the neck, known by the 
name of goiter, without in any way in¬ 
juring the general health. 

(4) Bleeding from the nose may be 
stopped by pressing the nostrils to¬ 
gether for some minutes. Ice applied 
to the bridge of the nose or nape of the 
neck, snuffing up into the nostrils ice- 
water, vinegar, or gum-arabic powder, 
are all of them available means to 
check the effusion. 

Odor from Perspiration. — The 

unpleasant odor produced by perspira¬ 
tion is frequently the source of vexa¬ 
tion to persons who are subject to it. 
Nothing is simpler than to remove this 
odor. But two tablespoonfuls of spir¬ 
its of a,mmonia (hartshorn) in a basin 
of water, and wash. This leaves the 
skin clean and fresh. The wash is per¬ 
fectly harmless and very cheap. 

Piles.—The ingredients are: Two 
tablespoonfuls of tar, eight tablespoon¬ 
fuls of lard, not heaped. First wash 
the parts effected with castile soap and 
water, and then apply the ointment. 
The ointment should be used once or 
twice each day. 

Pimples.—(1) It requires self-denial 
to get rid of pimples, for persons 
troubled with them will persist in eat¬ 
ing fat meats and other articles of food 
calculated to produce them. Avoid 
the use of rich gravies, or pastry, or 
anything of the kind in excess. Take 
all the out-door exercise you can and 
never indulge in a late supper. Retire 
at a reasonable hour, and wse^early in 
the morning. Sulphur to puri ’ :* 

blood may be taken three ti r i 
week—a thimbleful in a glass o • d 
before breakfast. It takes sorn 
for the sulphur to do its work, th to. 
persevere in its use till the humors, 
or pimples, or blotches, disappear. 
Avoid getting wet while taking the sul¬ 
phur. 

(2) Try this recipe: Wash the face 
twice a day in warm water, and rub 
dry with a coarse towel. Then with a 
soft towel rub in a lotion made of two 
ounces of white brandy, one ounce of 
cologne, and one half ounce of liquor 
potassa. Persons subject to skin erup- 











THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


33 


tions should avoid very salt or fat food. 
A dose of Epsom salts occasionally 
might prove ben'eficial. 

(3) Wash the face in a dilution of car¬ 
bolic acid, allowing one teaspoonful to 
a pint of water. This is an excellent 
and purifying lotion, and may be used 
on the most delicate skins. Be careful 
about letting this wash get into the 
eyes. 

(4) Oil of sweet almonds, one ounce; 
fluid potash, one dram. Shake well 
together, and then add rose-water, one 
ounce; pure water, six ounces. Mix. 
Rub the pimples or blotches for some 
minutes with a rough towel, and then 
dab them with the lotion. 

(5) Dissolve one ounce of borax, and 
sponge the face with it every night. 
When there are insects, rub on flour of 
sulphur, dry, after washing rub well 
and wipe dry; use plenty of castile 
soap. 

(6) Dilute corrosive sublimate with 
oil of almonds. A few days’ application 
will remove them. 

Pneumonia. —It will be remem¬ 
bered that in old age the lungs are much 
shriveled, less elastic, and can not be 
fully inflated ; the air cells are Idilated 
to about twice their size, many of the 
capillaries are obliterated, the breath¬ 
ing is more feeble and shallow, and the 
power to get rid of carbonic acid is 
greatly diminished. 

Hence pneumonia (inflammation of 
the lungs) is not only one of the most 
common diseases of old age, but the 
most fatal—over three-fourths (some 
say nine-tenths) of the aged dying with 
it. The main work of the lungs is 
done by the air-cells, the tiny labora¬ 
tories in which the smaller branches of 
the air-tubes terminate, as the branches 
of a tree terminate in the leaves. Now 
it is these that are the seat of pneu¬ 
monia. 

In the first stage of the disease they 
become—in some part of the lungs 
—filled with a sticky fluid, exuded 
from tire blood vessels: in the second 
stage tlfis fluid becomes solid; in the 
third it Changes to pus. If the pus is 
absorbed—which is seldom the case in 
the. o 16 - the . ■: jon may recover, but 
- afp--.: 'a ’ i[of convalescence. If 
grene (mortification), 
ho gar. may form numerous 

. U through an entire lung. 

S In the aged h e disease seldom corh- 
-ell-defined symptoms. 


In about one-half the abases there is 
simply a chill or a pain in the side. In 
most of the other cases the main symp¬ 
tom is a feeling of exhaustion. If 
there is already chronic bronchitis or 
asthma, the person may merely feel a 
little tired, and suddenly die. 

Though most persons cough, there is 
for a time no expectoration. When 
it appears it is at first scanty, gray and 
frothy; then yellow, and at length 
reddish and sticky. Patients seJdom 
complain of pain or difficulty of breath¬ 
ing. 

The more common exciting cause is 
cold, especially dry, sharp. Nine- 
tenths of all cases occur between No¬ 
vember and May. During this period 
the aged cannot be too carefully pro¬ 
tected from exposure. They should 
constantly wear flannel. 

About all that can be done for the 
patient is to stimulate him with drinks, 
nourish him with concentrated fluid 
food, and secure him absolute rest. 

Poison Ivy. — (1) Dr. Benjamin 
Edson, of Brooklyn, has had much 
experience with cases of poisoning by 
poison ivy, Rhus Toxicodendron. He 
is familiar with alkali and other 
washes usually employed in their treat¬ 
ment and considers them of little, if 
any, value. He has treated some severe 
cases, he states in the Medical Record, 
with fluid extract of gelsemium with 
uniformly 5 ’ the best results. As most 
of our readers know, gelsemium is the 
yellow jessamine of the South. The 
extract was employed in awash made 
by mixing together a half dram of car¬ 
bolic acid, two drams of the fluid 
extract of gelsemium, one-half ounce 
of glycerine and four ounces of water. 
W 7 ith this cloths were kept moistened 
and applied to the parts affected. Two 
drops of the fluid extract of gelsemium 
was also given internally every three 
hours. Some cases were also treated 
with the same mixture with the carbol¬ 
ic acid omitted, and these yielded no 
less promptly than the others. 

(2) Bathe the parts affected with 
sweet spirits of niter. If the blisters 
are broken so that the niter be allowed 
to penetrate the cuticle, more than a 
single application is rarely necessary, 
and even where it is only applied to 
the surface of the skin three or four 
times a day, there is rarely a trace of 
the poison left next morning. 

(3) A wash made from the spotted 









t> 4 


THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


alder is recommended for ivy poison¬ 
ing, Also tlie shop water of a black¬ 
smith's trough as a sure cure for poison 
ivy, and dogwood and strong salt and 
water as an antidote for the poisoning 
of sumach. 

Poisons, Antidotes for.—(1) The 
most dangerous of the vegetable 
poisons are the hemlocks (including 
the hemlock drop wort, water hemlock, 
and the common hemlock), fool’s pars¬ 
ley, monkshood, foxglove, black helle¬ 
bore, or Christmas rose, buck-bran, 
henbane, thorn apple, and deadly night¬ 
shade. In a case of vegetable poison¬ 
ing, says Knowledge, “emetics (the sul¬ 
phate of zinc, if procured) should be used 
at once, the back of the throat tickled 
with a feather, and copious draughts 
of tepid water taken to excite and 
promote vomiting. Where these meas¬ 
ures fail, the stomach-pump must be 
used. Neither ipecacuanha nor tartar 
emetic should be used to cause vom¬ 
iting, as during the nausea they pro¬ 
duce before vomiting is excited the 
poison is more readily absorbed. Vine¬ 
gar must not be given until the poi¬ 
sonous matter has been removed ; but 
afterward it may be given in doses of a 
wineglassful, one part vinegar to two 
parts water, once every two hours in 
mild cases, but oftener—to half hourly 
doses—in cases of greater severity. 
Where there is stupor, the patient 
should be kept walking about, and if 
the stupor is great cold water may be 
dashed over the head and chest. Strong 
coffee may be used where the narcotic 
effect of the poisoning is very marked. 
It is all-important that in cases of veg¬ 
etable poisoning a medical man should 
be sent for at once. ” 

(2) If a person swallow any poison 
whatever, or has fallen into convul¬ 
sions from having overloaded the 
stomach, an instantaneous remedy, 
more efficient and applicable in a 
larger number of cases than any half a 
dozen medicines we can think of, is a 
heaping teaspoonful of common salt 
and as much ground mustard, stirred 
rapidly in a teacup of water, warm or 
cold, and swallowed instantly. It is 
scarcely down before it begins to come 
up, bringing with it the remaining con¬ 
tents of the stomach; and lest there 
be any remnant of poison, however 
small, let the white of an egg, or a tea¬ 
cup of strong coffee be swallowed as 
soon as the stomach is quiet. These 


very common articles nullify a larger 
number of virulent poisons than any 
medicines in the shops. 

(3) Great quantities of Paris green 
are used during some seasons of the 
year, and as accidents may happen, it 
is well to know the antidote for the 
poison. Paris green owes its deadly 
properties to arsenic, as does London 
purple. Should either of these be taken 
into the stomach, let the person drink 
copious draughts of milk, or raw eggs 
beaten up, and as soon as possible give 
an emetic, mustard is as good as any¬ 
thing, and keep up the action of vom¬ 
iting by giving milk between the 
paroxysms of vomiting. When the 
stomach no longer rejects what is swal¬ 
lowed, give a good dose of castor oil. 

(4) It cannot be too generally known 
that the ordinary calcined magnesia, 
mixed with water, is considered a cer¬ 
tain antidote to numerous poisons, 
especially those of metallic origin, such 
as arsenic, corrosive sublimate, sul¬ 
phate of zinc, etc. In cases of this de¬ 
plorable kind, two or three teaspoonfuls 
of magnesia, mixed with water, should 
be at once administered, which, in all 
probability, will save the patient until 
the doctor comes. 

(5) Hundreds of lives have been 
saved by a knowledge of this simple 
recipe. A large teaspoonful of made 
mustard mixed in a tumbler of warm 
water, and swallowed as soon as pos¬ 
sible ; it acts as an instant emetic, suf¬ 
ficiently powerful to remove all that is 
lodged in the stomach. 

(6) A standing antidote for poison by 
dew, poison-oak, ivy, etc., is to take a 
handful of quicklime, dissolve in water, 
let it stand half an hour, then paint 
the poisoned parts with it. Three or 
four applications will never fail to cure 
the most aggravated cases. 

(7) The only safe and immediate 
remedy within the reach of a non-pro¬ 
fessional, in case of poisoning with 
prussic acid, is to pour a stream of cold 
water, from an elevation, upon the hehd 
and spine of the patient. 

(8) I! a person has taken an overdose 
of laudanum, very strong coffee is a 
specific antidote. Keep the patient on 
his feet and keep him walking. Sleep 
is fatal under such circumstances. 

Prickly Heat. -P;ickly heat is a 
very common andi trou 
The most effectual rtn en t r 
we know of is a fcewd • nposed of 


f 











THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


35 


one part of oxide of zinc, three parts of 
oxide of magnesia, and sixteen parts 
of sublimate of sulphur. Place the 
powder on a plate and press a damp 
sponge v on it. Hub the body with the 
sponge,*to which the particles of pow¬ 
der have adhered, and continue the ap¬ 
plication for fifteen minutes, then wash 
the parts clean of the adhering par¬ 
ticles. Repeat twice or three times 
every twenty-four hours. 

Pulmonary Complaints. — When 
an effusion of blood from the lungs 
takes place, a prompt and infallible re¬ 
source might readily be provided, so as 
to meet the occasion with a safe and 
decided effect. From twenty to thirty- 
five drops of the spirits of turpentine 
in a glass of water will produce an in¬ 
stantaneous collapse of the-'mouth of 
the blood vessel. It is also asserted 
that, in the above case, a tumblerful of 
strong gin-toddy, or gin and water, will 
have the same effect. , 

Pulmonary Diseases, Petroleum 
in.—A partial investigation has been 
made of the alleged utility of this arti¬ 
cle in affections of the chest. The pe¬ 
troleum of Pennsylvania and Virginia 
was first experimented upon—a very 
safe substance, for even considerable 
quantities, when swallowed by error, 
have caused only a little nausea. It is 
found that in chronic bronchitis, with 
abundant expectoration, it rapidly di¬ 
minishes the amount of secretion and 
the paroxysms of coughing, and in 
simple bronchitis rapid amelioration 
has been obtained. Its employment in 
phthisis has been continued for too 
short a time, as yet, to allow of any 
judgment being formed as to its effi- 
ciencj’, beyond that it diminishes the 
expectoration, which also loses its puru¬ 
lent character. The petroleum is cus¬ 
tomarily taken in doses of a teaspoon¬ 
ful before each meal, and,after the first 
day, any nausea which it may excite in 
some persons disappears. 

Quinsy.— (1) Our cure is l tar spread 
on the throat and quite up under the 
ears. Cover with a cloth and go to 
sleep and wake up well. Only abrowD 
stain will remain ; it is easily washed 
off with castile soap. It is a sure re¬ 
lief. It is our opiuion that in cases of 
incipient scarlet fever or diphtheria 
this is the remedy. It looks reason¬ 
able if it brings sure relief in quinsy, 
which it does. 


(2) A teaspoonful of red sage leaves 
to one quart of water, boil ten minutes, 
add four tablespoonfuls of vinegar, and 
sweeten with honey. In the first stage 
of the disease, it might be used as a 
gargle, and then to rinse the mouth; it 
should be vised warm. It will be found 
invaluable. 

Rheumatism.—(1) Dr. Ebrards, of 
Nirnes, states that he has for many 
years treated all his cases of sciatica 
and neuralgic pains with an impro¬ 
vised apparatus consisting merely of a 
flat-iron and vinegar, two things that 
will be found in every house. The iron 
is heated until sufficiently hot to va¬ 
porize the vinegar, and is then covered 
with some w r oolen fabric, which is moist¬ 
ened with vinegar, and the apparatus 
is applied at onee to the painful spot. 
The application may be repeated two 
or three times a day. Dr.Ebrards states 
that, as a rule, the pain disappears in 
twenty-four hours, and recovery en¬ 
sues at once. 

(2) Take cucumbers, when full grown, 
and put them into a pot with a little 
salt; then put the pot over a slow fire, 
where it should remain for about an 
hour; then take the cucumbers and 
press them, the juice from which must 
be put into bottles, corked up tight, 
and placed in the cellar, where they 
should remain for about a week; then 
wet a flannel rag with the liquid, and 
apply it to the parts affected. 

(3) Half ounce of strongest camphor¬ 
ated spirit, one ounce spirits of turpen¬ 
tine, one raw egg, half pint best vine¬ 
gar. AA ell mix the- whole, and keep it 
closely corked. To be rubbed in three 
or four times a day. For rheumatism 
in the head, or faceache, rub all over 
the back of the head .and neck, as well 
as the part which is the immediate seat 
of pain. 

(4) Dr. Bonnett, of Grauibet, France, 
recommends and prescribes for chronic 
rheumatism the use of the essential 
oil of turpentiue bv friction. He used 
it himself with perfect success, having 
almost instantaneously got rid of rheu¬ 
matic pains in both knees and in the 
left shoulder.^ 

(5) A very simple remedy for rheu¬ 
matism of the extremities, and one 
that often gives great relief, is, to take 
a large piece of thick flannel, sprinkle 
it wmll with finely pulverized sulphur, 
and then bind snugly about the 
limb, with the sulphur next the skin. 








30 


TRF FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


(6) For sciatic rheumatism the fol¬ 
lowing is recommended: Two drams 
iodide potassium, four ounces cinna¬ 
mon water. Mix. Take a teaspoonful 
three times a day before eating. It is 
also exeellant fur dyspepsia. 

(7) Tincture of gum guaiacum, ten 
to fifteen drops, three times a day. I 
have never known it to fail in making 
a cure, except in cases of long stand¬ 
ing, when it will afford great relief. 

Rlieuniati sm, Inflamniatory.—(1) 

Sulphur and saltpeter, of each one 
ounce; gum guaiacum, one-fourth 
ounce; colchicum root, or seed, and 
nutmegs, of each one-fourth ounce , all 
to be pulverized and mixed with sim¬ 
ple syrup, or molasses, two ounces. 
Dose: One teaspoonful every two hours 
until it moves the bowels rather free¬ 
ly ; then three or four times daily until 
cured. 

(2) Half an ounce of pulverized salt¬ 
peter put in half a pint of sweet oil; 
bathe the parts affected, and a sound 
cure will speedily be effected. 

Ringworm.— (1) Oil of paper made 
by burning a sheet of ordinary writing 
paper upon a plate, will cure a ring¬ 
worm, which is caused by contagion or 
some impurity in the blood; the oil will 
be seen after the paper is burned in the 
form of a yellow spot; this applied with 
the finger twice a day will in a very 
short time cuie the worstof ringworms. 

(2) Tincture of iodine, painted over a 
ringworm, for three or four days in suc¬ 
cession, will entirely cure it in a few 
days. It stains the* skin considerably 
wherever it is applied, and this is the 
only objection to it. Those who object 
to this need not use it; they may keep 
the ringworm. The stain goes off in a 
few days. 

(3) Heat a shovel to a bright red, cov¬ 
er it with grains of Indian corn, press 
them with a cold flat iron. They will 
burn to a coal and exude an oil on the 
surface of the flat iron, with which rub 
the ring and after one or two applica¬ 
tions it will gradually disappear. 

(4) Make a curd by mixing alum and 
the white of an egg over a fire until it 
is the consistency of pomatum ; spread 
over the ringworm. One or two appli¬ 
cations should effect a cure. 

(5) Simple cerate, oDe pound ; diluted 
sulphuric acid, one-quarter of a pound. 
Mix and apply. 

(6) To one part of sulphuric acid add 
sixteen parts of water. Use a brush or 


feather, and apply it to the parts night 
and morning. If the solution prove 
too strong, add a little more water. If 
the irritation is excessive, apply a lit¬ 
tle glycerine. Avoid the rase of soap. 

Salt Rheum.—Take half a pound 
of swamp sassafras-bark and boil it, in 
enough fresh water to cover it, for the 
space of half an hour. Take off the 
water, and thoroughly wash the part 
affected. Add hog’s lard to some of 
the water, and simmer it over a mod¬ 
erate fire until the water is evaporated : 
anoint the part affected, continuing 
the washing and anointing four days. 
A cure is generally certain. 

Scald Head.—This appearance is 
the result of a bad state of the system 
— bad blood—the humors affecting the 
head often in consequence of neglect 
of cleanliness, or too rough combing 
or brushing of the head. There are 
cases in which wet cloths applied to the 
head, wet in arnica and water (four 
parts of w T ater to one of arnica), may 
soon remove the difficulty if there is 
not too much of impurity in the system 
seeking an escape in this way. 

Such a child should be much in the 
open air, be regular in taking food, eat 
the simplest kinds—the less the better 
of grease, salt, and the sweets general¬ 
ly. The parts may be bathed in arnica, 
glycerine or sweet oil, to protect them 
from the irritation of the air, etc. 

In specially stubborn cases, it is well 
to produce an irritation in another part 
of the body, by the mustard or blister 
plaster, diverting it from the head, 
since the head is more likely to be at¬ 
tacked than most parts of the body. 
Its appearance is nota misfortune, but 
the location is not the best. 

B} t no means use any sugar of lead 
or anythingdike it—an active poison— 
and do not attempt to “ dry it up, ” or 
suddenly cure it, since there is always 
danger of driving it to some internal 
organ, some unsafe place; it is safer to 
do nothing, allowing nature to care for 
it, than to do wrong. It is not best to 
“ dabblewith unknown remedies — 
poisons—or to listen to all told you by 
your neighbors, who may know noth¬ 
ing of the matter, though they may 
have had many children, which fact 
never gives intelligence. 

Scarlet Fever.—(1) Mr. Robert 
Christie, a San Francisco journalist, 
suggests a remedy for the scarlet fever 









THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


37 


which he avers has invariably proved 
successful. It is very simple, and lies 
within the reach of those whose limited 
means preclude them from employing 
the services of a physician. It is this: 
Take an onion, and cut it in halves ; cut 
out a portion of the center, and into 
the cavity put a spoonful of saffron; 
put the pieces together, then wrap in 
cloth and bake in an oven until the on¬ 
ion is cooked so that the juice will run 
freely; then squeeze out all the juice, 
and give the patient a teaspoonful, at 
the same time rubbing the chest and 
throat with goose grease or rancid ba¬ 
con, if there is any cough or soreness in 
the throat. In a short time the fever 
will break out in an eruption all over 
the body. All that is then necessary is 
to keep the patient warm, and pro¬ 
tected from draught, and recovery is 
certain. Mr. Christie says lie has been 
employing this remedy for many years, 
and never knew it to fail, when proper 
care was taken of the patient after its 
application. One family, in which 
there were five children down with the 
disease at one time, recently, used this 
simple remedy up‘on his telling them 
of it, and every one of the little ones 
recovered in a short time. 

(2) An eminent physician says he 
cures ninety-nine out of every hun¬ 
dred cases of scarlet fever, by giving 
the patient warm lemonade with gum 
arabic dissolved in it. A cloth wrung 
out in hot water and laid upon the 
stomach, should be removed as rapid¬ 
ly as it becomes cool. 

Sciatica.—An English officer, who 
served with distinction in the war with 
Napoleon, was once laid up in a small 
village in France, with a severe attack 
of sciatica. It so happened that at 
that time, a tinman was being em¬ 
ployed at the hotel where he lodged, 
and that this tinman, having been 
himself a soldier, took an interest in 
the officer’s case, and gave him the 
cure which in this instance succeeded 
immediately and forever, and which I 
am about to set down. It is at any 
rate so simple as to be worth a trial: 
Take a moderate size potato, rather 
large than small, and boil it in one 
quart of water. Foment the part af¬ 
fected with the water in which the po¬ 
tato has been boiled as hot as it can be 
borne at night before going to bed; 
then crush the potato and put it on the 
affected part as a poultice. Wear this all 


night and in the morning heat the wa¬ 
ter, which should have been preserved, 
over again, and again foment the part 
with it as hot as can be borne. This 
treatment must be persevered with for 
several days. It occasionally requires 
to be continued for as much as two or 
three weeks, but in the shorter or long¬ 
er time it has never yet failed to be 
successful. 

Scrofula.—(1) Yellow dock root has 
proved very useful in scrofula. It is 
given in powder or decoction. Two 
ounces of the fresh root bruised, or one 
ounce of the dried, may be boiled in a 
pint of water, of which two fluid ounces 
may be given at a dose, and repeated 
as the stomach will bear. The root 
has also been applied externally in the 
shape of ointment, cataplasm, and de¬ 
coction, to the cutaneous eruptions and 
ulcerations for which it has been used 
internally. The powdered root is also 
recommended as a dentifrice, especial¬ 
ly when the gums are spongy. There 
is no doubt that in a great many cases 
the disease is inherited; some contend 
that it is so in all cases. It shows it¬ 
self in various forms-as hip-diSease, 
white swelling, rickets, salt rheum, etc. 
Persons affected by it are subject to 
swelling of the glands, particularly 
those of the neck. 

(2) A tea made of ripe, dried whortle¬ 
berries, and drank in place of water, is 
a sure and speedy cure for scrofula 
difficulties, however bad. 

Scurf.—(1) A lump of fresh quicklime 
the size of a walnut, dropped into a 
pint of w r ater and allowed to stand all 
night, the water being then poured off 
from the sediment and mixed with a 
quarter of a pint of the best vinegar, 
forms the best wash for scurf in the 
head. It is to be applied to the roots 
of the hair. 

(2) Half a pint of rose-water, and one 
ounce of spirits of wine mixed togeth¬ 
er. Part the hair as much as possible, 
and apply the mixture with a piece of 
flannel. 

Seasickness.—The following rem¬ 
edy, preventive of seasickness, is rec¬ 
ommended by Prof. E. Tourgee, of 
Boston, manager of tourist excursions. 
It was tried by himself and family, live 
in all, who had suffered from sea-sick¬ 
ness on every former voyage across the 
Atlantic, and in each case it proved en¬ 
tirely successful, and produced no un- 










THE FAMILY DOCTOR ROOK. 


38 


favorable results. Dissolve one ounce 
of bromide of sodium in four ounces of 
water. Take one teaspoonful three 
times a day before eating. Begin tak¬ 
ing the above three days before start¬ 
ing on the ocean voyage. 

Shampooing Liquid. —An excel- 
lent shampoo is made of salts of tartar, 
white castile soap, bay-rum and luke¬ 
warm water. The salts will remove all 
dandruff, the soap will soften the hair 
and clean it thoroughly, and the bay- 
rum will prevent taking cold. 

Sickness of Stomach,—(1) The foi- 
fowing drink for relieving sickness of 
the stomach was introduced by Dr. 
Halahan, and is said to be very pala¬ 
table and agreeable: “ Beat up one egg 
very well, say for twenty minutes; then 
add fresh milk, one pint; water, one 
pint; sugar, to make it palatable; boil, 
and let it cool; drink when cold. If it 
becomes curds and whey it is useless. 

(2) Saits of tartar, thirty grains; oil 
of mint, six drops; powdered gum ara- 
bie, eighth of an ounce; powdered loaf 
sugar, eighth of an ounce; water, six 
ounces. A tablespoonful of this mixt¬ 
ure is a dose. 

(3) Sickness of the stomach is most 
promptly relieved by drinking a tea¬ 
cupful of hot soda and water. If it 
brings all the offending matter up all 
the better. 

Sleeplessness. — (1) Nervous per¬ 
sons, who are troubled with wakeful¬ 
ness and excitability, usually have a 
strong tendency of blood to the brain, 
with cold extremities. The pressure of 
the blood on the brain keeps it in a 
stimulated, or wakeful state, and the 
pulsationsjn the head are often pain¬ 
ful. Let such rise and chafe the body 
and extremities with a brush or towel, 
or rub smartly with the hands, to pro- 
|mote circulation, and withdraw the ex¬ 
cessive amount of blood from the brain, 
and they will fall asleep in a few mo¬ 
ments. A cold bath or a sponge bath 
and rubbing, or a good run, or rapid 
walk in the open air, or going up or 
down stairs a few times j ust before re¬ 
tiring, will aid in equalizing circula¬ 
tion and promoting sleep. These rules 
are simple and easy of application, in 
castle or cabin. 

(2) A little English work, “ Sleep and 
How to obtain it,” says that insomnia 
is not so dangerous as as is commonly 
supposed, for the author knows an emi¬ 


nent man of letters who has suffered 
from it for many years without injury. 
When a man begins to dream of his 
work he may know that he is under too 
great a mental strain. The author’s 
plan of inducing sleep is to recken up 
friends and. acquaintances whose name 
begins with a certain letter. 

(3) If troubled with wakefulness on 
retiring to bed, eat three or four small 
onions; the}’ will act as a gentle and 
soothing narcotic. Onions are also ex¬ 
cellent to eat when one is much exposed 
to cold. 

Small-pox. —(1) The following rem¬ 
edy for this loathsome disease is very 
simple, and on the authority of a sur¬ 
geon of the British army of China, it is 
said to be a thorough cure, even in ex¬ 
treme cases: When the preceding fev¬ 
er is at its height, and just-before the 
eruption appears, the chest is rubbed 
with croton oil and tartaric ointment. 
This causes the whole eruption to ap¬ 
pear on that part of the body, to the 
relief of the rest. It also secures a full 
and complete eruption, and thus pre¬ 
vents the disease from attacking the 
internal organs. 

(2) The following will cure not only 
small-pox, but also scarlet fever. It is 
harmless when taken by a person in 
health : Sulphate of zinc, 1 one grain; 
foxglove (digitalis), one grain; half a 
teaspoonful of sugar; mix with two ta¬ 
blespoonfuls of water. When thor¬ 
oughly mixed add four ounces of wa¬ 
ter. Take a spoonful every hour. Ei¬ 
ther disease will disappear in twelve 
hoars. Fora child, smaller doses, ac¬ 
cording to the age. If countries would 
compel their physicians to use this 
there would be no need of a pest-house. 

(3) “ I am willing to risk my reputa¬ 
tion as a public man,” wrote Edward 
Hine to the Liverpool Mercury , “ if the 
worst case of small-pox cannot be cured 
in three days, simply by the use of 
cream of tartar. One ounce of cream of 
tartar dissolved in a pint of water, 
drank at intervals when cold, is a cer¬ 
tain never-failing remedy. Ithas cured 
thousands, never leaves a mark, never 
causes blindness, and avoids tedious 
lingering.” 

Snake Bites.—Turpentine is said to 
be a sure cure for a bite of a snake. It 
should be pat in a bottle, and the 
mouth being placed over the spot, the 
liquid brought directly in contact with 
I the wound by inverting the bottle, 









THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


39 


which should be held there until relief 
is obtained. A complete alleviation of 
pain has been known to ensue in less 
than a quarter of an hour. An impor¬ 
tant discovery. 

Sore Throat.—(1) An exchange 
thinks that salt and water, a large ta¬ 
blespoonful of salt to half a tumbler of 
water, used as a gargle for sore throat 
just before meal-time, is an excellent 
remedy for such complaint. A little 
red pepper should be added if the salt 
water does not prove successful. Reel 
pepper, honey or sugar, and sharp 
vinegar, simmered together, and then 
tempered with water so as not to be 
too strong, is a good remedy easily ob¬ 
tained. 

(2) Sometimes a sore throat can be 
cured by the following simple recipe: 
Soak in water a small piece of bread 
and mix with it a pinch of cayenne pep¬ 
per; roll it up in the form of a pill and 
swallow it. Usually in three hours 
the patient will be relieved of all pain. 
In aggraved cases a second dose may 
be requisite. 

(3) If you have a sore throat, slight or 
serious, a piece of camphor-gum as 
large as a pea, kept in the mouth until 
dissolved, will give relief and often¬ 
times cure. It is said on good author¬ 
ity. if the gum is used in season, you 
will never have diphtheria—it is a good 
preventive. 

A) A gargle of salt and vinegar, with 
a little cayenne pepper, will do more 
to disperse soreness of t he throat than 
any other remedy of which we have 
heard. It stimulates the glands, pro¬ 
motes free secretion, and will some¬ 
times cure in a few frours. 

(5) One ounce of best Peruvian bark, 
two wineglassfuls of honey, burnt alum 
the size of two walnuts, borax the size 
of a shellbark. Mix these ingredients 
in a quart of water, and then stew them 
until reduced to a pint. Shake the 
mixture previous to using it. 

h>) An excellent remedy for sore 
throat is brewers’ yeast and honey- 
four tablespoonfuls of the first and one 
teaspoonful of the latter. Mix in a cup, 
and gargle the throat two or three 
times an hour. 

(7) Chlorate of polish dissolved in wa¬ 
ter is a standard remedy for sore throat, 
particularly when the throat feels raw. 

(8) Use a gargle of a goblet half full 
of water, with a teaspoonful of common 
baking soda dissolved in it. 


Spasms.— To cure this distressing 
form of malady, take two pennyworth 
of camphor, and infuse it in one pint 
of brandy. Let it stand- forty-eight 
hours, and then it is fit for use. When 
the attack comes on, take one teaspoon* 
ful in a wineglass of water. 

Sprains and Bruises.—(1) The best 
treatment of sprains and bruises is the 
application of water, of such tempera¬ 
ture as is most agreeable. The degree 
of temperature varies with the tem¬ 
perature of the weather and the vigor 
of the circulation. In a hot day use 
cool or cold water. If the circulation is 
low use warm water. The bruised or 
sprained parts may be immersed in a 
pail of water, and gently pressed or 
manipulated with the hand or soft cloth 
for ten or fifteen minutes, or even long¬ 
er in severe cases, after which wrap up 
the parts in cloths wet in cold v T ater, 
and keep quiet. This treatment keeps 
down the inflammation, and in nine 
oases out of ten proves a speedy cure. 
The liniments and filthy ointments so 
much used for sprains do not compare 
with this simple treatment in efficacy. 

(2) Take one part blue clay and two 
parts vinegar, and make into a paste, 
and bind on at night with a wet towel. 
One application is generally sufficient. 

(3) Make pounded resin into a paste 
with fresh butter, lay it on the sprained 
part and bind it up. 

Stammering-.—No stammering per¬ 
son ever found any difficulty in sing¬ 
ing. The reason of this is, that by ob¬ 
serving the measure of the music—by 
keeping time—the organs of speech are 
kept in such position that enunciation 
is easy. Apply the same rule to read¬ 
ing or speech, and the same result will 
follow. Let the stammerer take a sen¬ 
tence say this one—“Leander swam the 
Hellespont,’ 5 and pronounce it by syl¬ 
lables, scan it, keeping time with the 
finger if necessary, letting each syl¬ 
lable occupy the same time, thus, Le- 
an-der-swam-the-Hel-les-pont, and he 
will not stammer. Pronounce slow¬ 
ly at first, then faster, but still keeping 
time; keeping time with words instead 
of syllables. Practice this in reading 
and conversation until the habit is 
broken up. Pei.severance and atten¬ 
tion is all that is necessary to perform 
a perfect cure. 

Stiff* Neck.—Apply over the place 
affected a piece of black oil-cloth with 






-10 


THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


the right side to the skin, then tie up 
the neck with a thick handkerchief. 
In a short time the part will grow 
moist, and by leaving thus twelve 
hours, the pain will be removed. 

Sty on the Eyelid.—(1) Put a 

teaspoonful of tea in a small bag; pour 
on it just enough boiling water to 
moisten it; then put it on the eye pretty 
warm. Keep it on all night, and in the 
morning the sty will most likely be 
gone; if not, a second application is 
sure to remove it. 

(2) Ice will check at first; if they do 
not suppurate quickly, apply warm 
poultices of bread and milk; prick them 
and apply citrine ointment. 

(3) Dip a feather in the white of an 
egg, and pass it along the edge of the 
eyelids. 

Sunburn. —(1) Take two drams of 
borax, one dram of Roman alum, one 
dram of camphor, half an ounce of 
sugar-candy, one pound of ox gall ;mix 
and stir well for ten minutes or so,, and 
repeat this stirring three or four times 
a day for a fortnight, till it appears 
clear and transparent. Strain through 
blotting paper, and bottle up for use. 
It is said that strawberries rubbed over 
the face at night will remove freckles 
and sunburn. 

(2) Wash the face at night with ei¬ 
ther sour milk or buttermilk, and in the 
morning with weak bran tea and a little 
eau-de-cologne. This will soften the 
skin and remove the redness, and will 
also make it less liable to burn again 
with exposure to the sun. Bathing the 
face several times in the day with elder 
flower water and a few drops of eau- 
de-cologne is very efficacious. 

(3) Pat two spoonfuls of sweet cream 
into half a pint of new milk; squeeze 
into it the juice of a lemon, add half a 
glass of genuine Trench brandy, a lit¬ 
tle alum and loaf sugar; boil, skim 
well, and, when cold, it is lit for use. 

Sunstroke.— As soon as you reach 
your patient take hold of him or her 
and carry or drag him or her into the 
shade. Place the body in a sitting 
posture, the back against a wall, with 
the feet and legs resting upon the 
sidewalk and extending in front of the 
body. Get ice water and a bottle of 
some strong essence of ginger.. Pour 
the ice water over the head, copiously; 
never mind the clothes. Then pour 
two or three tablespoonfuls of ginger 


in about half a tumbler of water, and 
make the patient swallow it quickly. 
Keep the head cool by using a little of 
the ice water, and in case there is not 
much of a glow on the body give more 
ginger. If this recipe is promptly 
used and fully carried out in every case 
the Board of Health will never have a 
death to record from this cause. It is 
no experiment or quack remedy. It 
costs but a few cents and a half-hour 
or an hour’s time. Ginger is by far 
the best to use, and where it cannot be 
had quickly two or three good drinks 
of brandy will answer. 

Sunstroke, To prevent.— Sun¬ 
stroke is prevented by wearing a silk 
handkerchief in the crown of the hat, 
or green leaves, or a wet cloth of any 
kind ;but, during an attack, warm wa¬ 
ter should be instantly poured on the 
head, or rags dipped in the water and 
renewed every minute. The reason is 
twofold—the scalp is dry and hot, and 
the warm water not only removes the 
dryness but carries off the extra heat 
with great rapidity by evaporation. 

Taking- Cold. —When a person be¬ 
gins to shiver,the blood is receding from 
the surface; congestion, to a greater 
or less extent has taken place, and the 
patient has already taken cold, to be 
followed by fever, inflammation of the 
lungs, neuralgia, rheumatism, etc. All 
these evils can be avoided and the cold 
expelled by walking, or in some exer¬ 
cise, that will produce a prompt and 
decided reaction in the system. The 
exercise should be sufficient to pro¬ 
duce- perspiration. If you are so sit¬ 
uated that you can get a glass of hot 
water to drink, it will materially aid 
the perspiration, and in every way as¬ 
sist nature in her efforts to remove the 
cold. This course followed, your culd 
is at an end, and whatever disease it 
would ultimate in is avoided, your suf¬ 
ferings are prevented and your doctor’s 
bills saved. 

Teeth, The.—The teeth need brush¬ 
ing at least before going to bed every 
night, and are better for being cleansed 
after each meal. Tartar can be re¬ 
moved by using pumice stone reduced 
to powder, rubbing it on the teeth with 
a bit of soft wood made into a brush. 
Where the gums are sensitive, there is 
nothing better than the chalk and 
myrrh dentifrice. Where the top of a 
tooth is very sensitive, wet a bit of 







THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


41 


chalk and lay it on under the lip. 
Where the breath is offensiye the mouth 
should be rinsed with water in which 
an atom of permanganate of potash 
has been dissolved; just enough should 
be used to make the water pink. Take 
care not to swallow any, as it is a poi¬ 
son. Crooked teeth in children can oft¬ 
en be straightened, without applying 
to a dentist, if the parents watch the 
teeth when coming through, and sev¬ 
eral times a day press the crooked one 
into position. Of course where the arch 
of the mouth is defective, the upper 
teeth protruding over the under lip, or 
the under jaw projects, the services of 
a skillful dentist will be required. It 
is only after the permanent teeth ar¬ 
rive that such operations are per¬ 
formed. 

Tetter. —Procure some strawberry 
leaves, and lay the outside, or woolly 
side of the leaf on the parts affected. 
They must be laid on very thick, and 
be changed occasional^". They will 
draw out inflammation, and cure the 
disease. 

Throat, Foreign bodies in the. 

—“ Foreign bodies lodged in the throat 
can be removed,” says Dr. Beveridge, 
a British naval surgeon, “ by forcibly 
blowing into the ear.” The plan is so 
easily tried and so harmless that we 
suggest its use. 

Tobacco Antidote. —Buy two oun¬ 
ces or more of gentian root, coarsely 
ground. Take as much of it after each 
meal, or oftener, as amounts to a com¬ 
mon quid of “ fine-cut. ” Chew it slow¬ 
ly and swallow the juice. Continue 
this a few weeks, and you will conquer 
the insatiable appetite for tobacco, 
which injures both mind and body, and 
from which thousands struggle to be 
free, but give up in despair. 

Toothache.—(1) Bicarbonate of soda 
as a remedy for toothache, has been 
used very successfully. It was first 
introduced to the public by Dr. Duck¬ 
worth, of St. Bartholomew’s Hos¬ 
pital, London, who resorted to it when 
chloroform, carbolic acid, and every¬ 
thing else had failed. His recipe is to 
soak small pieces of cotton in a solu¬ 
tion of thirty grains of bicarbonate of 
soda to one fluid ounce of water, and 
insert the cotton in the tooth. Dr. 
Duckworth is of the opinion that very 
frequently the pain is due to the con¬ 
tact of acid saliva with the decayed 


tooth; and therefore, it is important, in 
cases of toothache, first to determine 
whether the saliva had an acid reaction. 
If this be the case, then a simple alka¬ 
line application, as above stated, is 
the most efficacious means of cure. 

(2) The worst toothache, or neuralgia 
coming from the teeth, may be speed¬ 
ily ended by the application of a small 
bit of clean cotton saturated in a strong 
solution of ammonia to the defective 
tooth. Sometimes the application 
causes nervous laughter, but the pain 
has disappeared. 

(3) If the tooth contains a cavity 
which can be easily reached, fill it with 
sugar of lead. Allow it to remain a few 
minutes, then wash it out with warm 
water, being careful to remove all of it. 
This is the most prompt relief for 
toothache — save the forceps — with 
which we are familiar. 

(4) Put a piece of quicklime, as big 
as a walnut, in a pint of water in a 
bottle. Clean the teeth with a little of 
it every morning, rinsing the mouth 
with clean water afterward. If the 
teeth are good, it will preserve them, 
and keep away the toothache; if the 
teeth are gone, it will harden the gums, 
so that they will masticate crusts and 
all. 

(5) Take alum, reduce to an impal¬ 
pable powder, 2 drams ; nitrous spirits 
of ether, 7 drams. Mix and apply 
them to the tooth. This is said to be 
an infallable cure for all kinds of tooth¬ 
ache (unless the disease is connected 
with rheumatism). 

(G) Steep a piece of coarse brown pa¬ 
per in cold vinegar, then grate ginger 
on it, and apply to the side of the face 
affected; the application to be made at 
bed-time, and kept on during the whole 
of the night. 

(7) One ounce of alcohol, two drams 
cayenne paper, one ounce kerosene oil; 
mix, and let stand twenty-four hours— 
a sure cure. 

Tootli Powder.— (1) Dissolve two 
ounces of borax in three pints of boil¬ 
ing water, and before it is cold, add one 
teaspoonfui of the spirits of camphor, 
and bottle for use. A tablespoonful of 
this mixture, mixed with an equal 
quantity of tepid water, and applied 
daily with a soft brush, preserves and 
beautifies the teeth, extirpates all tar- 
tarous adhesion, arrests decay, induces 
healthy action of the gums, and makes 
the teeth pearly white. 







42 


THE FAMILY DOCTOli BOOK. 


(2) The dark colored Substance which 
collects on neglected teeth cannot be 
removed with "a brush and water. Pul¬ 
verized charcoal will take it off, but 
this scratches the enamel and leads to 
decay of the tooth. A better substance 
is pumice stone in powder. Dip a pine 
stick into it, and scour the teeth. After 
this treatment the daily use of the tooth 
brush and tepid water will be sufficient. 

(3) A good way to clean teeth is to 
dip the brush in water, rub it over 
genuine white castile soap, then dip it 
in prepared chalk. A lady says: “I 
have been complimented upon the 
whiteness of my teeth,which were origi¬ 
nally anything but white. I have used 
the soap constantly for two or three 
years, and the chalk for the last year. 
There is no danger of scratching the 
teeth, as the chalk is prepared, but with 
a good stiff brush and the soap, is as 
effectual as soap and sand on a floor. 

(4) Mix six ounces of the tincture of 
Peruvian bark with half an ounce of 
sal ammoniac. Shake it well before 
using. Take a spoonful and hold it 
near the teeth; then with a linger 
dipped into it, rub the gums and teeth, 
which must afterward be washed with 
warm water. This tincture cures the 
toothache, preserves the teeth and 
gums,'and makes them adhere to each 
other. * 

(5) Prepared chalk, one pound; cam¬ 
phor, one or two drachms. The cam¬ 
phor must be finely powered,by moist¬ 
ening it with a little spirits of wine, 
and then intimately mixed with the 
chalk. 

(6) Ingredients: Powdered charcoal, 
four ounces; powdered yellow bark, 
two ounces; powdered myrrh, one 
ounce, orris root, half an ounce. 

(7 ) Ten cents’ worth ground chalk, 
five cents’worth orris root, five cents’ 
worth myrrh,one teaspoonful powdered 
castile soap. Mix all well together. 

(8) A mixture of honey with the 
purest charcoal will prove an admirable 
cleanser. 

Typhoid Fever. -Dr. Guiliasse, of 
the French navy, in a recent paper on 
typhoid fever, speaks of the great 
benefit which has been derived from 
the use of coffee. He has found that 
no sooner have the patients taken a 
few tablespoonfuls of it than their feat¬ 
ures become relaxed and they come to 
their senses; next day the improve¬ 
ment is such as to leave no doubt that 


the article is just the specific needed. 
Under its influence the stupor is dis¬ 
pelled and the patient rouses from the 
state of somnolency in which he has 
been since the invasion of the disease; 
soon, all the functions take their nat¬ 
ural course, and he enters upon con¬ 
valescence. Dr. Guillasse gives to an 
adult two or three tablespoonfuls of 
strong black coffee every two or three 
hours, alternated with one or two tea¬ 
spoonfuls of claret or Burgundy wine— 
a little lemonade or citrate of magnesia 
to be taken daily; after a while qui¬ 
nine. 

Ulcers.—Here is a recipe that will 
cure any sore on man or beast that has 
ulcerated. Take two and one-half 
drams blue stone, four drams alum, six 
drams loaf sugar, one dram sugar of 
lead, one tablespoonful honey. Put all 
into a bottle, put in one pint of vine¬ 
gar, shake it three or four times a day, 
until they are dissolved, and it is ready 
for use. Pour some of it out and add 
water when you first apply to any sore, 
as it makes it smart at the first applica¬ 
tion ; apply three times a day. 

Ventilation.—The best way to ad¬ 
mit pure air in the night (where win¬ 
dows are the only mode of ventilation) 
is to open the sleeping-room into a hall 
where there is an open window in order 
to avoid the draught. A window with 
a small opening at the top and bottom 
ventilates more than one with one 
opening only. 

Warts. —(1) A much safer remedy for 
warts than nitrate of silver is sal am¬ 
moniac. Get a piece about the size of 
a walnut; moisten, the warts, and rub 
the sal ammoniac' well on them every 
night and morning, and in about a 
fortnight they will probably disappear. 
If not, do not despair, but continue the 
process till they are gone. 

(2) The best treatment of warts is to 
pare the dry hard skin from their tops, 
and then touch them with the smallest 
drop of strong acetic acid, taking care 
that the acid does not run off the wart 
upon the neighboring skin; for if it 
does, it will occasion inflammation and 
much pain. If this is continued once 
or twice daily, with regularity, paring 
the surface of the wart occasionally, 
when it gets hard and dry, the wart 
will be soon effectually cured. 

(3) Take half an ounce of sulphur, 
half an ounce of alcohol, 95 per cent; 





THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK . 


43 


put into an ounce vial, shake them 
well together, and apply freely once 
or twice a day for two or three weeks. 
By the end of this time, or a month 
at the most, the warts will be gone. 

(4) Dissolve as much common wash¬ 
ing-soda, as the water will take up; 
wash the warts with this for a min¬ 
ute or two, and let them dry without 
wiping. Keep the water in a bottle, 
and repeat the washing often, and it 
will take away the largest warts. 

(5) Oil of cinnamon dropped on warts 
three or four times a day will cause 
their disappearance, however hard, 
large, or dense they may be. The ap¬ 
plication gives no pain nor causes sup¬ 
puration. 

(6) The bark of the willow tree, burnt 
to ashes, applied to the parts, will re¬ 
move all warts or excrescences on any 
part of the body. 

Whooping-cough.— (1) Dr. Grath, 
of Vienna, proposes a singular treat¬ 
ment for this distressing ailment, 
which will doubtless receive careful 
consideration from the medical pro¬ 
fession. He states that by placing 
twenty drops of the oil of turpentine 
on a handkerchief, holding it before 
the face, and taking about forty deep 
inspirations, to be repeated thrice dai¬ 
ly, marked relief, succeeded in cases of 
laryngeal catarrh by speedy cure, is the 
result. Being called In to attend an 
infant of fifteen months in the convul¬ 
sive stage, he instructed the child’s 
mother to hold a cloth moistened, as 
already described,before it when awake, 
and to drop the oil upon its pillow when 
asleep. In this instance the remedy in 
its effect was most beneficial. The fre¬ 
quency and severity of the attacks sen¬ 
sibly decreased in the course of twenty - 
four hours, and by proper support by 
the help of stimulants, improvement 
w T as rapid. 

(2) Dissolve a scruple of salts of tartar 
in a gill of water; add to it ten grains of 
cochineal; sweeten it with sugar. Give 
to an infant the fourth part of a table¬ 
spoonful four times a day; two years 
old, half a tablespoonful; from four 
years, a tablespoonful. This has been 
a very successful mixture. 

(3) The following is regarded as an 
excellent remedy: Pure carbonate of 
potassa, one scruple: cochineal, one 
grain. Dissolve in six ouuces of water 
sweetened with sugar. Dose fora child 
four or five years old, one teaspoonful 


three times a day, to be taken befoie 
meals. 

(4) The inhalation of air charged with 
ammonia vapors, as a remedy for whoop¬ 
ing-cough, has been tried in France 
with success. One of the methods of 
application employed is boiling strong 
ammonia in the room where the pa¬ 
tient is. 

(5) Pound best black resin very fine, 
and give as much as will lie on a cent 
in a little moist sugar three times a 
day, commencing before breakfast in 
the morning. I have known it to cure 
the most obstinate cases of whooping- 
cough in three weeks. 

(G) An excellent cure for whooping- 
cough, and one that I have seen tried 
in several instances with entire success, 
is simply this : Steep a handful of chest¬ 
nut leaves in a pint of boiling water; 
sweeten, cool, and give as a common 
drink five or six times a day. 

Worms.—Some members of the pro¬ 
fession still cling with bull-dog tenacity 
to the opinion that worms do not effect 
the health of children, and that they 
are natural to them. The latter ma 3 r 
or may not be true, but when they ac¬ 
cumulate in the intestines, they pro¬ 
duce the same disturbance that any 
foreign, indigestible substance would 
do. We find the picking of the nose, 
swollen lower eyelids, restlessness in 
sleep, groaning, gritting teeth, start¬ 
ing, and lastly, spasms. 

Worms kill more children than teeth¬ 
ing; and when you find the above 
symptoms with a strawberry tongue and 
a fever, which will attack several times 
daily, going off as frequently in cold 
sweats, you can swear that you have a 
case of worms, and had as well pre¬ 
pare and attack them. 

Now as to the .best means of getting 
rid of them. I use the fluid extract of 
senna and spigelia in teaspoonful doses 
for patients of eight or ten years of 
age, and less in proportion, night and 
morning, for three nights and days, 
following this up each morning with a 
good dose of castor oil, provided the 
senna and spigelia does not act. Then 
wait three days, and again institute 
the same proceedings, and for the 
same length of time. 

This treatment is for the lumbric 
oid. For the oxyuris, or “ thread 
worm,” I use any bitter infusion by 
enema, sulph. quinine, followed by an 
enema of common salt and milk—warm 





u 


THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


water half an hour afterward, which 
will destroy and expel them. 

The symptoms of the presence of the 
worm are the same as the former, with 
the exception that in the latter you 
will find the sufferer scratching the 
anus. If every practitioner will use 
these he will be gratified by the res¬ 
toration to immediate health of many 
a little sufferer, who would otherwise 
linger in sickness for many months 
and perhaps eventually die. 

Wounds. —(1) A wound produced 
by a sharp cutting instrument will heal 
without trouble w T hen the edges are 
nicely brought together, and left so, 
without putting on any salve, provided 
the access of air is shut off and the 
person possesses a good constitution. 
If the wound is produced by a rusty 
nail, or a similar cause, so as to be 
jagged, it will soon become very in¬ 
flamed. and in such a case it is recom¬ 
mended to smoke such a wound with 
burning wool or woolen cloth. Twenty 
minutes in the smoke of wool will take 
the pain out of the worst wound, and 
if repeated once or twice will allay the 
worst case of inflammation arising 
from a wound. 

(2) The best simple remedy for sur¬ 
face wounds, such as cuts, abrasion of 
the skin, etc., is charcoal. Take a large 
coal from the fire, pulverize it, apply 
it to the wound, and cover the whole 
with a rag. The charcoal absorbs the 
fluid secreted by the wound, and lays 
the foundation of the scab; it also pre¬ 


vents the rag from irritating the flesh, 
and is an antiseptic. 

(3) Without waiting for it to stop 
bleeding, press the edges of the lacer¬ 
ated flesh together, and apply immedi¬ 
ately a plaster made of soot and cream, 
binding it firmly on, not to be removed 
till healed, without cleanliness requires 
it. Then put another of the same on, 
without delay, not allowing exposure 
to the air any more than possible to 
prevent. 

(4) It is not generally known that the 
leaves of geranium are an excellent 
application for cuts, where the skin is 
rubbed off, and other wounds of that 
kind. One or two leaves must be 
bruised and applied to the part, and 
the wound will be cicatrized in a short 
time. 

(5) There is nothing better for a cut 
than pow'dered resin. Get a few cents’ 
worth, pound it until it is quite fine, 
put it in a cast-off spice-box, w r ith per¬ 
forated top, then you can easily sift it 
on the cut. Put a soft cloth around 
the injured member, and wet it with 
water once in a while; it will prevent 
inflammation or soreness. 

(G) When a nail or pin has been run 
into the foot, instantly bind on a rind 
of salt pork, and; keep quiet till the 
wound is w T ell. The lock-jaw is often s 
caused by such wounds, if neglected. 

(7) It is a wise plan to keep a cup of 
alum w T ater always convenient, so that 
sudden cuts or bruises can be bound 
up in a cloth wet in it. If treated thus 
they will heal quickly. 








ADVICE TO MOTHERS. 


BY EFFIE W. MERRIMAN. 


CHATTER I. 

PRENATAL INFLUENCES. 

Herbert Spencer deplored the act 
that, while the raising of fine cattle 
was considered a subject on which 
men of wealth and education might 
profitably spend much time, thought 
and money, the bringing up of line 
human beings was not deemed worthy 
of attention. There has been a great 
change in that respect, however, and 
more especially during the last few 
years. The interest of thoughtful peo¬ 
ple has been awakened ; books on child- 
culture have been written, and the es¬ 
tablishment of successful periodicals 
devoted to the subject is, perhaps, a 
still better indication of the drift of 
current thought toward a field of re¬ 
search full of promise to the investi¬ 
gator, and affording greaF opportunity 
for development. 

Statistics tell an appalling tale of in¬ 
fant mortality, especially in our cities, 
yet is read as indifferently as if human 
life were worthless. Science says that 
the average man does not live one- 
fourth the days that he should live. 
The laws of life go to show that all ani¬ 
mals, which die of old age, live at least 
five times as many years as are re¬ 
quired to mature their skeletous. 
Modern physiologists claim that it re¬ 
quires thirty years to mature the hu¬ 
man skeleton, and yet late statistics 
show that the * average life of man is 
less than thirty-five years. The loss 
of a part of the remaining huudred 
and fifteen years is supposed to be due 
to climatic and atmospheric influences, 
for which, of course, man is not respon¬ 
sible; but it is a fact that many chil¬ 
dren are born to die—because robbed of 
their birthright—the vitality which 
would enable them to live—by sensual, 
selfish, thoughtless, ignorant or de¬ 
graded parents. 

Dr. Holmes once said that any child 
could be permanently cured of every ill 
if the doctor were only called in time. 

“ How is one to know when he should 
be called?” queried a listener. 


“ Call him two hundred years before 
the child is born,” was the reply. 

The question of long life should not 
be the only one taken into considera¬ 
tion by the philosopher who has decid¬ 
ed that the culture of the human race 
is a subject worthy of study; for, 
though the story of infant mortality is 
a sad one, a sadder fact is given us in 
the knowledge that the world would be 
better to-day if many who are living 
had died in their infancy. The phi¬ 
losopher is now brought face to face 
with the doctrine of heredity, the sub¬ 
ject of prenatal influence, and the rock 
of conjecture as to the relation of the 
moral, mental and physical elements 
of man, and how great a share of 
blame should rest on physical ailments 
when considering moral deformities. 

The doctrine of heredity is of un¬ 
known antiquity. Ancient history is 
full of it. Perhaps of all nations the 
Jews had the strongest belief in it, go¬ 
ing so far as to teach that every illness 
was a direct punishment for some sin 
committed In the past. They had rec¬ 
ognized the close relationship between 
the physical and the moral, but it is 
not shown that they made practical 
use of their knowledge. Neither was 
the subject of prenatal influence new 
to the ancients, as is shown by a study 
of the Scriptures. For this, as for 
many other of our greatest helps to 
human progress, we are indebted to 
the ancients; but before their ideas 
can be made of practical value they 
must be embraced and utilized by the 
added knowledge and the spirit of prog¬ 
ress and inquiry of the present age. 
A long step in tiie right direction has 
been taken through the earnest study 
of the subject of heredity, and in re¬ 
cent years of that of prenatal influ¬ 
ence, which, though closely connected 
with the former, is a distinct subject. 

One thing is certain: The child can¬ 
not inherit what his ancestors do not 
possess; but whether by prenatal in¬ 
fluence he can be made superior to 
them to any great degree still remains 
a question. That prenatal influence 






THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


may modify or strengthen hereditary 
tendencies is no longer doubted, but 
as the subject has, as yet, hardly ad¬ 
vanced beyond the hypothetical stage, 
practical knowledge of it. must, of 
course, be rather limited. It is no long¬ 
er ignored by those who have a thought¬ 
ful interest in the welfare of coming 
generations, and, though many of the 
ideas now advanced are supposititious, 
impracticable, and even ridiculous, yet 
they are the beginning of the bridge 
that is to connect the unknown With 
the known, and give to mankind the 
most important key to human prog¬ 
ress. If the bridge were not begun it 
would surely never be finished; so let 
us be charitable toward ideas that we 
feel sure are false; study carefully 
those which we are doubtful of; observe 
thoughtfully, that we may learn; and 
heed that which has been proven true, 
remembering that each may add his 
mite. That it is anecessary work none 
can dou-bt; it is surprising that it was 
not long ago begun. 

The training of mothers has, for 
some time, been a subject for earnest 
thought, but it has been like begin¬ 
ning the building of the bridge too 
near the water’s edge, and much of the 
work was in vain. In the earliest 
stages of infancy evils are discovered 
that the most sensible and well-trained 
mothers are powerless to suppress. 
Many persons are obliged to suffer 
through life from causes that science 
only guesses at, and which no amount 
of intelligence seems competent to 
avoid, yet the time is coming when it 
will be plain. 

It is known that the girl who marries 
the man with bad habits, is, in a meas¬ 
ure, responsible for the evil tendencies 
which those habits have created in the 
children; and young people are con¬ 
stantly warned of the danger in marry¬ 
ing when they know that they come 
from families troubled with chronic 
diseases or insanity. To be sure the 
warnings have had little effect thus 
far in preventing such marriages, and 
it is doubtful whether they will, unless 
the prophecy of an extremist writing 
for one of our periodicals comes to pass 
—that the time is not far distant when 
such marriages will be a crime punish¬ 
able by law. That there is a tendency 
in the right direction must be admitted, 
and is, perhaps, most clearly shown in 
some of the articles on prison reform. 
Many of them strongly urge the ne¬ 


cessity of preventive work as the truest 
economy, and some go so far as to say 
that if the present human knowledge 
of the laws of heredity were acted upon 
for a generation, reformatory measures 
would be rendered almost unne cessary. 

The mother who has ruined her 
health by late hours, highly-spiced food 
and general carelessness in regard to 
hygienic laws, and the father who is 
the slave of questionable habits, will 
be very sure to have children either 
mentaily or morally inferior to what 
they might otherwise have had a right 
to expect. But the prenatal influ¬ 
ences may be such that evils arising 
from such sources may be modified to 
a great degree. 

I believe that prenatal influence may 
do as much in the formation of char¬ 
acter as all the education that can come 
after, and that mothers may, ina meas¬ 
ure, “ will ” what that influence shall be, 
and that, as knowledge on the subject 
increases, it will be more and more 
under their control. * In that, as in 
everything else, things that would be 
possible with one mother would not be 
with another, and measures that would 
be successful with one would produce 
opposite results from the other. 

While discussing prenatal influence, 
it will not be out of place to mention a 
few instances, by way of illustration, 
taken from the note-book of one who 
has given much thought to the subject. 

The mother of a young man, who 
was hung not long ago, was heard to 
say, “ I tried to get rid of him before 
he was born, and oh, how I wish, now, 
that I had succeeded!” She added 
that it was the only time she had at¬ 
tempted anything of the sort, but be¬ 
cause of home troubles she became 
desperate, and resolved that her bur¬ 
dens should not be made greater. Does 
it not seem probable that the murder¬ 
ous intent, even though of short dura¬ 
tion, was communicated to the mind 
of the child, and resulted in the crime 
for which he was hung ? 

Another mother was noted for brill¬ 
iancy of conversation during preg- 
naucy. She was fond of telling anec¬ 
dotes, and they were always worth 
listening to, though not on accouut of 
accuracy. Even when repeating stories 
that others knew of, truth was often 
sacrificed in order that the story might 
sound well. “ She is such good com¬ 
pany,” her friends said, and the differ¬ 
ence in her talk was usually the first 








THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


47 


indication they had of her condition. 

She has not one child who can tell 
the truth, and any story repeated as 
having come from that family, is im¬ 
mediately received with doubt. One 
child, a daughter, became painfully 
aware of her infirmity, and when she 
reached the years of womanhood and 
found herself likely to become a moth¬ 
er, her first thought was for her child, 
and' she silently resolved that she 
would try to live so that it might not 
inherit her fault. Years afterward, she 
told a friend of her experience of those 
few months. It was when talking of 
her boy, who was of a moody, unhappy 
disposition, unable to find much pleas 
ure with companions, and critical of 
the faults of others to a surprising de¬ 
gree in one so young. The mother was 
keenly alive to his faults, though proud 
of the fact that he had a strict regard 
for the truth. 

“ I feel that it is my fault,” she said, 
“ that Bertie is so peculiar, but I erred 
through ignorance. I was so afraid of 
speaking an untruth that I refrained 
from saying anything at all unless it 
was absolutely necessary, and so kept 
by myself as much as possible. When 
I had exaggerated in relating an inci¬ 
dent, I would become hopeless and de¬ 
spondent, and would sometimes cry for 
hours about it, and so kept myself in a 
state of constant apprehension and 
nervous excitement. I think I should 
not make such a mistake again.” 

That mother certainly added one 
more proof of the power of prenatal 
influence; and the world is full of such 
proofs. What we lack is the knowl¬ 
edge that will enable us to make good 1 
use of them. 

I know another mother who was mor¬ 
bidly conscious of a fault, and equally 
strong in the desire that her unborn- 
child might be free from it. She kept 
the thought before her constantly and 
nearly became insane on the subject, 
and now, though the child is less than 
three years of age, she shows that she 
possesses that same fault in an exag¬ 
gerated degree. 

To me, these instances teach that the 
mother should not give so much thought 
to the object in view that she can think 
of little else; for either her purpose 
will be defeated, cr the object gained 
will be very likely to be counterbal¬ 
anced by some fault quite as grave. 

A woman was teaching a very un¬ 
ruly school during the first months of 


pregnancy. It was a number of years 
ago, when corporal punishment was 
considered more of a necessity than it 
is now, and teachers were often hired 
because of their- ability to administer 
it She was not a harsn tempered 
woman, but she had exaggerated no¬ 
tions on the subject of discipline, and 
the rod was used unsparingly. In a 
very early period of his existence her 
baby showed indications of an ungov¬ 
ernable temper, which, when aroused, 
always prompted him to strike. Ashe 
grew to manhood he was often in troub¬ 
le on account of it, and suffered the 
keenest sorrow when not angry for the 
things he would do and say ,when he 
was. Before the age of thirty, while 
in a rage, he struck a friend who died 
from the effects of the blow T . 

These instances could doubtless be 
multiplied by thousands, could facts 
be obtained, more especially^from moth¬ 
ers of criminals. 

In the case just mentioned, the moth¬ 
er gave no thought to the influence 
she might have expected. In those 
days prenatal influence was seldom 
considered except in reference to phys¬ 
ical deformities, and then more in a 
superstitious light than a philosoph¬ 
ical one, and fright or unsatisfied long¬ 
ing were the agents to be warned 
against. This mother’s second child, 
also a boy, was born three years later. 
She has since said that the three years 
following the birth of her first child 
were the happiest years of her life. 
She had few cares, and no more work 
than she could do easily; her sur¬ 
roundings were pleasant, her acquaint¬ 
ances congenial, and her husband was 
doing well in his business. Her sec¬ 
ond boy holds an honored position in 
the stare where he lives, and is well 
worthy of the love and esteem which 
he receives. 

A woman rode side by side with her 
soldier husband, and witnessed the 
drilling of troops for battle. The scene 
inspired her with a deep longing to see 
a battle and share in the excitements 
of the conquerors. This was but a few 
months before her boy was born, and 
his name was Napoleon. 

I am aware that there are many per¬ 
sons who would consider such illustra¬ 
tions valueless, because there are great 
generals whose mothers did not pass 
through any such experience; but one 
might answer that, had more women 
drilled as Napoleon’s mother did, we 







43 


THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


would have more great generals, and 
that argument would be quite as con¬ 
clusive as theirs. 

It is said that Dante’s mother saw a 
vision of wonderful grandeur and beau¬ 
ty which she could not look upon with 
calmness, but in the midst of it, as. if 
perfectly at home in all tiro' magnifi¬ 
cence, stood a man whom she knew to 
be her son. The vision, in itself, 
amounts to little, as many women 
know, who, when pregnant, are sub¬ 
ject to strange fancies and hallucina¬ 
tions. 

The lesson is here : It served to im¬ 
press upon her the idea of the great¬ 
ness of her unborn son, and so forcibly 
that, until he was born, she had the 
thought constantly in mind.' It caused 
her no uneasiness. She was so sure of 
it that she was calm and happy, and 
without herself realizing it, everything 
was looked at as nearly as possible in 
the light that she imagined her gifted 
son would see it. Who can doubt that 
that was one of the greatest factors in 
giving to the world a poet and scholar 
known throughout the world ? It is 
only one more of the many strong 
proofs that the magnetic power of the 
mother’s mind controls, in a measure, 
the development of the unborn child. 

A work called “ Heads and Faces ” 
gives an illustration of the effect of 
the mother’s mind on the unborn child, 
that is exceedingly interesting. In 
speaking of Zerah Colburn, who was 
born at Cabot, Yt., in 1804, and died in 
1840, and who, at the age of six years, 
manifested such powers of computa¬ 
tion as to astonish the learned world, it 
says: “ Questions in multiplication, 
of five places of figures, reduction rule 
of three, compound fractions, and ob¬ 
taining factors of large numbers, were 
answered with accuracy and with 
marvelous quickness. A" few months 
before his birth, his mother, who had 
never been taught arithmetic, had on 
her mind, for a day and a night, a puz¬ 
zling question as to how many yards 
of cloth a given amount of yarn which 
she had would make. To a person un¬ 
derstanding arithmetic this would be 
a simple problem, but she had to do it 
by a mental process, without rule, and 
this extraordinary effort on her part 
was organized in her child and made 
him a genius in mental arithmetic, 
but not in mathematics. An attempt 
was made to educate him in other 
branches of study, but he never dis¬ 


tinguished himself nor even came up 
to the common average.” 

These instances are not mentioned 
with the thought of trying to arouse in 
the mother’s mind a desire to try simi¬ 
lar experiments; but that she may be 
brought to consider the subject of pre¬ 
natal influence seriously, and not read 
the injunctions given concerning her 
habits while pregnant, as something 
which has very little practical value. 
At least they should be given the bene¬ 
fit of a doubt. 

jOne mother, who was usually very 
irritable during the months of preg¬ 
nancy, was told that her babies would 
not be so cross if she would compel 
herself to be cheerful, and to look on 
the bright side of life. It was a new 
idea to her. “ I believe it is all non¬ 
sense,” she said, “ but it will do no 
harm to try to control myself.” She 
did try, and now assigns it as a reason 
for the happy nature of her little girl. 

Let these instances help to teach 
that the mind of the prospective moth¬ 
er should dwell on subjects of a pleas¬ 
ant and elevating character; that she 
must not only avoid going where she 
will be pained or shocked by loathsome 
or pitiful sights, but should cultivate a 
tranquil and happy spirit, and spend as 
little time as possible worrying about 
the trial in store for her. It cannot 
help but affect the child in a way not 
desirable when the mother keeps her¬ 
self in a state of contiuual fear and 
agitation. To think calmly of the 
pains of childbirth is not easy, espe¬ 
cially when the mother has had one ex¬ 
perience ; and there are so many who 
would be much happier if they knew 
how greatly the suffering might be 
mitigated, that a few words on the care 
that expectant mothers should take of 
themselves will not be amiss in a chap¬ 
ter on prenatal influence. 

Many authorities agree in teaching 
that the child is nourished by the food 
eaten by the mother, and that the pains 
of childbirth are much lessened if but 
little bone-making food has been eaten 
during pregnancy. A child may be 
very fleshy, but if its bones are small, 
the'mother suffers less at its birth than 
is the case with babies having large 
frames. Therefore, there are many 
kinds of food containing a great quan¬ 
tity of bone-making material, which, 
though very wholesome under ordi¬ 
nary circumstances, are not the best 
foods for the expectant mother to pai> 







40 


THE FAMILY DOCTOR ROOK. 


take of. First a.iiumg these we will 
mention the different preparations of 
corn-meal. Analysis shows that about 
one-seventieth of it is bone-making 
food, while rice contains only about a 
thousandth part, and all kinds of fruit 
still less. The flesh of young animals 
is preferable to that of older ones in 
that respect; but salt should be eaten 
sparingly, as it is nearly as bad as In¬ 
dian corn ; and, as meat is not palata¬ 
ble without considerable salt, much of 
it should not be eaten. All vegetables 
except potatoes, corn, and beans, may 
be eaten freely. Some physicians rec¬ 
ommend oatmeal and graham bread 
at least once a day, that the bowels 
may be kept regular, but as both con¬ 
tain a large per cent, of bone-making 
food, it is wiser to use fruit instead, 
which answers the same purpose in 
most cases, and is, in every way, the 
best food for the pregnant mother. 
Some may object to the, advice given 
above on the ground that such a course 
would be hurtful to the child. Of 
course this dieting should not be car¬ 
ried to an extreme, nor is it likely to 
be in the majority of cases, for appe¬ 
tite is too strong. There is little dan¬ 
ger that there will not be a sufficiency 
of calcareous matter contained in other 
kinds of food, and especially in cereals 
not mentioned above as being objec¬ 
tionable on account of containing too 
much of it. 

But dieting is not all-sufficient. 
Hygienic laws should be observed, 
and the health should be carefully 
guarded, for healthy women suffer less 
at childbirth than they who are sickly. 
It is very desirable that the mother 
should have some useful occupation. 
They are really fortunate who have 
domestic duties to attend to, though 
household tasks should not be allowed 
to absorb too much of the time or at¬ 
tention. A part of every-day should 
be devoted to suitable out-of-door rec¬ 
reation. The clothing should be 
loose, of uniform thickness, and sus¬ 
pended from the shoulders. It is bet¬ 
ter to keep early hours, thus avoiding 
artificial light; and no wise woman 
will be seen, at such a time, in 
crowded, over-heated rooms, or in 
places where she will be likely to be¬ 
come excited. Regularity in eating, 
drinking and bathing ought to be prac¬ 
ticed, not only for the benefit it will be 
to the mother, but also for the good ef¬ 
fect it will be likely to have on the child, 


Above all, cheerfulness, mental com¬ 
posure and self-control in all things 
must be aimed at, and the mother 
should keep constantly before her mind 
the thought that she cannot now con¬ 
sult her own inclinations in everything 
but must do what seems best for the 
helpless little one she is to bring into 
the world. Such directions as are 
given above are not hard to follow; 
after a few days one gets quite in the 
habit of obeying them, when they be¬ 
come no trouble at all, while the gain 
is surely worth striving for. 


CHAPTER II. 

baby’s wardrobe. 

When fashioning the garments for 
the little stranger, the mother must 
remember that they ought not to be a 
hindrance to his activity and develop¬ 
ment. His comfort and protection 
must also be taken into consideration, 
and finally his adornment. With too 
many mothers the adornment is the 
first and all-important thought, and 
the helpless little victim is doomed 
to complain for months, in a language 
not easily understood, about the con¬ 
stant annoyance to which he must 
submit without knowing why. Such 
a condition of things would ruin the 
temper of the most philosophical 
adult. It is wonderful how much mis¬ 
ery many babies are made to bear by 
really tender-hearted mothers! It is 
only a few years since the little dresses 
were cut low in the neck and with short 
sleeves; even yet we may occasionally 
see a little martyr dressed in that way. 
Its dress will be’likely to measure fully 
a yard and a half from neck to hem, 
and to be so weighted down with tucks 
and ruffles and heavy embroideries 
that it is a wonder that the baby’s 
ankles are not deformed from the con¬ 
stant pressure on its toes, and a still 
greater wonder that it retains any of 
its natural activity, which was made 
manifest months before its birth. 

I have seen mothers who, noting 
their baby’s struggle for exercise, 
would uncover the little feet for a time 
that it might kick and stretch, but 
who would not receive the slightest 
impression from the lesson so plainly 
taught. Such stupidity is inexcusable. 
If the mother could only imagine her¬ 
self dressed in long, clumsy robes of 
nearly one-fourth her own weight, 


/ 







50 


THE FAMILY HOC TOE BOOK. 


which were so burdensome that it 
would be difficult to tell whether it was 
worse to lie in one position until every 
muscle ached, or to try to move, what 
a blessing it would be to her helpless 
baby! It makes one tired just to think 
of it, and an active woman would be 
driven wild in a little while if forced to 
wear garments so confining. We ask, 
in the name of the babies, that the 
mothers do not impose greater burdens 
on them than they themselves would 
be willing to bear. 

I knew one mother who had very 
decided opinions on the subject of 
corset-wearing, and who was earnest 
in her efforts to persuade her acquaint¬ 
ances to give up the practice. She 
told how she had suffered from the 
wearing of corsets, and how greatly 
her health had improved and her com¬ 
fort increased since she laid them 
aside. One day, when she was waxing 
unusually eloquent on the subject, I 
picked up her baby who was fretting 
in its cradle. It was like taking a lit¬ 
tle round stick of wood into my arms! 
I sat her up in my lap, and she was as 
stiff and unyielding as a new, well- 
stuffed doll. I put my watch in her 
lap, and when she tried to bend for¬ 
ward to get it, she actually gasped for 
breath. 

“Baby is so warm,” I said, “that I 
am gmng to loosen her clothes for a 
moment.” 

I did so, and this is actually the way 
that poor little martyr was dressed: 
First came a shirt which was gathered 
into a roll around the body close 
under the arms. A cotton band 
reached from the armpits nearly to the 
hips. When first put on, it came a lit¬ 
tle below the hips, but the child could 
not remain entirely immovable, and 
the band had formed into wrinkles 
around the waist, and was turned up 
in a little hem around the bottom. 
It was long enough to reach once and 
a half around the body, and was so 
pinned that one end lay along the 
spinal column where it would serve as 
an irritant whenever the child was laid 
on its back. The thick roll, which 
was turned up around the bottom 
where the band lapped, must have been 
particularly comforting! The band was 
pinned so tightly that it was with 
difficulty that one finger was inserted 
under it, in order to take out the pins, 
without scratching the baby. The lit¬ 
tle body was covered with deep, dark 


red lines pressed into the tender flesh 
by the firm band, which was made of a 
straight piece of strong muslin. Had 
it been cut bias it would not have been 
so cruel. 

The mother and her guest laughed 
when they saw the very evident satis¬ 
faction of the little one when released, 
and while I was rubbing the poor, 
abused little back; but I could not im¬ 
agine why they should. I felt more 
like crying, for it told so plainly of the 
suffering endured. 

As if that were not enough torture, 
there were four diapers pinned on 
the child, three of them doubled, so 
that the little limbs were forced so far 
apart b.y the many folds of cloth, that 
it is a wonder that the hips were not 
thrown out of joint. The mother had 
taken great care that the baby’s fine 
dress and her own should not get wet, 
but she had arranged matters so 
that she could not always know when 
the inside diapers were wet, and the 
baby’s body showed that it had often 
gone too long without attention. Next 
to the diapers came a pinning blanket 
made of white flannel, and gathered 
into a band that was fastened around 
baby’s waist in such a jvay that the 
heavy seam where the band and skirt 
were joined came exactly across the 
navel. It, also, was pinned tightly. 
“ It had to be, ” the mother said when 
I remonstrated somewhat indignant¬ 
ly, “ to keep it from slipping down.” 

Next came a long flannel skirt, fin¬ 
ished with heavy embroidery, and 
sewed to a broad band, and over that 
a white skirt also heavily trimmed and 
sewed to a band on which were narrow 
straps that extended over the shoul¬ 
ders. These straps were trimmed with 
embroidery, and when they were nice¬ 
ly starched and ironed they looked 
lovely; but think how the starched 
points must have annoyed the baby! 
Over all, was a beautiful dress, tucked 
and ruffled and trimmed with lace. It 
measured forty inches from the neck to 
the hem, and both skirts were equally 
as long. Now, think of it! The baby’s 
hips were covered by fourteen thick¬ 
nesses of cloth, its feet and limbs by 
four thicknesses, its stomach and back 
by eight, its shoulders, arms, and the 
upper part of the chest by one, beside 
a blanket that was sometimes on and 
sometimes off, according to the pleas¬ 
ure of the person holding the baby, 
not the little one’s comfort. The bands 









THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


were all pinned as nearly in the same 
place as possible, and so many lappings 
over the spinal column must have pro¬ 
duced a feeling not unlike that which 
an adult would experience if trying to 
sleep on a broomstick! 

Fashion for once became merciful 
when she decreed that the child’s chest 
and arms should be covered. Of late 
she has again ventured a reform, and 
there is a tendency toward less em¬ 
broidery and fewer tucks. If she could 
be persuaded to take another step and 
favor dresses measuring not over 
twenty-seven inches from neck to hem, 
how much more convenient it would be 
to handle the baby, and what a relief 
to the tired little feet! 

It is quite a task to dress a baby ac¬ 
cording to the old-fashioned method 
described above, and is usually a se¬ 
vere tax to the child’s temper and the 
mother's patience; but, after having 
tried the simple fashion here recom¬ 
mended, a wise woman will never go 
back to that tedious process. 

A sensibly dressed baby will have no 
shirt on. The best of them do not stay 
in place, and it is impossible for a child 
to be comfortable with one on. 

The most important item of baby’s 
wardrobe is the garment that is to 
take the place of the shirt. It is a 
sleeveless waist cut low in the neck, and 
fastened in front with small, flat but¬ 
tons, and having larger buttons on the 
bottom of it at the back and front. To 
these buttons is to be fastened the out¬ 
er diaper until the child is old enough 
to wear drawers, when more buttons 
are to be added. The waist is to be 
made of firm, soft T flannel, and worn in 
summer and winter. There are some 
skins so sensitive that the softest all- 
wool flannel irritates them, and when 
such is the case the waists should be 
lined with the best pieces of partly 
worn gauze underwear, or made of silk 
and wool flannel, which cannot possi¬ 
bly irritate the tenderest skin. It is 
quite expensive, but that Is a consider¬ 
ation which should not be taken into 
account when the baby’s comfort is 
concerned. To do so is a penny-wise 
and pound-foolish system of planning 
which never fails to bring its own 
punishment. 

Finish the little waists around neck 
and sleeves with a button-hole edge in 
wash silk. An edge can be crocheted 
to look very much like the button-hole 
stitch, and is much more quickly done. 


5t 


The waist should come down well over 
the hips, and fit easily. Very little 
fitting is required for the first "waists, 
but as baby grows his clothes must be 
made to fit. A belt of silesia, stitched 
on the outside at the waist line, holds 
the buttons firmly without tearing the 
flannel, and, as the diaper or drawers 
are buttoned over the lowerpart of the 
waist, there is no pulling apart of the 
two garments, leaving partof the baby 
uncovered. 

The outer diaper is a triumph of my 
own invention. It is to be made three- 
cornered with a button-hole in the 
middle of the back, and another in the 
corner that comes between the legs. 
It is to be put on wioli the corners that 
come around the waist under tbeother 
one, and tucked smoothly between the 
limbs to absorb moisture, and prevent 
the untidy, flapping look that is often 
seen. The safety-pin is put in below 
the button-hole, and then the diaper is 
buttoned to the waist at the front and 
back. Thus the waist is kept down, 
and the diaper is held in place, and the 
baby is made perfectly comfortable. 
The diapers should be made of canton 
flannel, with some of soft old linen for 
use during the first weeks of baby’s 
life, and a number made from worn 
sheets that are almost as soft as the 
lineu,and more easily procured. They 
are nice for inside diapers, and are not 
hard to wash. Only two should be 
put on the child at a time—the inner 
one being folded. 

Until the baby is three months old, 
pinning blankets will be needed, or 
foot blankets as they are also called. 
They should be made of a light gray 
flannel that will stand being washed 
often. The most satisfactory one I 
ever saw vras, like the outer diaper, 
made after a pattern not yet patented, 
and which has never “ had its picture 
taken,” so it cannot be easily de¬ 
scribed. To get an idea of it, take a 
piece of paper that is about twice as 
long as it is wide, and put your lead- 
pencil through the center of it, measur¬ 
ing from side to side, but considerably 
nearer one end than the other. If it 
were cut down the front, or shorter 
end,and a round piece cut out to fit the 
pencil, it could be put on without 
trouble. When made of flannel instead 
of paper, and fitted to a baby instead 
of a pencil, it will be seen that its ad¬ 
vantages over the old-fashioned pin¬ 
ning blanket are many. To begin with, 







52 


THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


it requires no band, and so there is no 
ugly seam around the child’s abdomen, 
and no unnecessary band around its 
waist. Then it can be easily and 
quickly folded back so as to form a 
protection for the dress, and so smooth 
that the folds will not be annoying. 
There is no extra fullness at the sides 
to tuck in where it is not wanted, and 
the back is enough longer than the 
front to bring over and pin, as a pro¬ 
tection to the feet. If wide flannel is 
used, no seams will be necessary. It 
can be plainly finished with a binding, 
and is to be fastened in front with one 
safety-pin. 

Pinning blankets may be made in 
another way that will not cut into the 
-flannel so badly, which is quite an 
item to some mothers, in view of the 
fact that the garment is worn for so 
short a time. A perfectly straight 
piece of flannel is laid in a deep box- 
pleat at one end, the pleats being 
stitched down for two or three inches 
to form a sort of band. The box-pleat 
must be large enough to reach clear 
across the baby’s back, or it will be un¬ 
comfortable. Tapes are fastened an 
iDch or two from the edge, that the 
garment may meet in front when tied ; 
a plain hem across the bottom com¬ 
pletes it. It is very easily and sim¬ 
ply made, and is preferable in every 
wav to those which are gathered into 
the belt; but is not so good as the one 
before-mentioned. Next comes the 
flannel skirt. This should be a modi¬ 
fied princess garment, cut high in the 
neck and with long sleeves. It is 
sometimes made in a “ Mother Hub¬ 
bard” style, but they are clumsy in 
flannel and are too loose for warmth. 
Many mothers object to having any of 
the baby clothes buttoned in front, 
principally because theydo not look 
so “cunning.” If they are sensible, 
however, they will make at least two 
of the skirts in that way, for baby’s 
first wear, and, wdien they come to 
dress the limp little thing they will 
see the wisdom of it. It is also a good 
plan to cut the skirt from the waist 
part, just below the waist line, bind 
the edges of both pieces, furnish the 
waist with small flat buttons and the 
skirt with button-holes, and button 
them together. Then, when the skirt 
becomes soiledit can be removed and 
replaced by another, without com¬ 
pletely undressing the child. It is bet¬ 
ter. however, not to cut the skirt until 


the child is too old to wear pinning 
blankets, as it will not be necessary 
until then, and the extra seams add to 
the little one’s discomfort. 

If embroidery is used on the skirts 
the simplest patterns should be chosen. 
To me, however, trimmed clothing on 
a young baby looks ridiculous. A cot¬ 
ton skirt is unnecessary, except on 
dress occasions, and there should be 
none of those until the baby is three 
months old at least. 

The little slip comes next This may 
be made in either a princess or Mother 
Hubbard ’“style. If the latter is se¬ 
lected, the yoke should never come be¬ 
neath the arms, as it is apt-to fit too 
closely, and is not very comfortable 
however loose it may be. 

For the first three months the child 
should wear no dress at all. Instead, 
provide loose wrappers of cambric 
made plainly and buttoned in front. 
Be sure that they arequitewide across 
the back, so that the ai ms can be easily 
put into the sleeves. 

Dress the baby every morning, put¬ 
ting on a fresh wrapper, allowing him 
to sleep in it at night, thus avoiding a 
change of dress when he is tired with 
a long day's handling. 

A woman having a very small amount 
of ingenuity can cut all the little gar¬ 
ments, even to a cloak, with but one 
good princess pattern to serve as a 
guide in size, and as to neck and arm¬ 
holes. 

By the time baby is three or four 
months old, he will have outgrown the 
wrappers, and will be strong enough to 
be undressed at night. Then he will 
need flannel night-gowns for night 
wear, and slips for the day-time. The 
flannel night-gowns should be worn 
summer and winter. Make them very 
large around the neck and armholes, 
and bind the neck and wrists with soft 
silk. Be sure that the sleeves are 
large enough to be perfectly comfort¬ 
able. When the child gets large 
enough to kick off the bedclothing, 
fasten his night-gown so that he can¬ 
not become completely uncovered or 
put him into night drawers and stock¬ 
ings combined. 

The seams of all the flannel garments 
should be sewed by hand, and with 
silk, then opened and caught down 
with the silk so as to be as flat as pos¬ 
sible, and silk or soft cotton should be 
used for the neck binding. 

A flannel dressing-gown is a gar- 










53 


the family doctor book. 


ment indispensable to baby's comfort. 
It is to be slipped on over liis night¬ 
dress when he is taken up in the morn¬ 
ing before mamma wishes to bathe 
and dress him, and is best made of 
dress flannel that will wash nicely and 
not soil too easily. For summer wear 
the dressing-gown may be made of 
sateen, wheni the baby wears flannel 
night dresses, and is often made doub¬ 
le—the lining contrasting prettily with 
the outside. Colors should always be 
chosen that do not fade easily. Baby’s 
night-dress' is usually damp in the 
morning, and the dressing-gown serves 
the double purpose of preventing him 
from taking a chili, and making him 
less unpleasant to hold. 

It is very pretty made in the Mother 
Hubbard style, long enough to tuck 
up around the little feet, and fastened 
at the yoke with three buttons, and 
around the waist with a cord and tas¬ 
sels, loosely tied. 

Now, with a buttling blanket, shoul¬ 
der blankets, and bed comforts or 
pads, the layette is complete. Layette 
signifies baby linen; but the word is 
now used by those who advocate dress 
reform for babies, to designate that 
part of the baby’s wardrobe which is 
made before his arrival, and intended 
for wear during the first months of 
his life-. 

The bathing blanket is simply a 
large piece of soft flannel in which 
baby is to be wrapped as soon as he is 
taken from the bath, to insure against 
his becoming chilled. It should be at 
least four feet square, and is better to 
be six feet, for it will be needed until 
the child is in his third year, and it 
must be so large that it will not fall 
away and leave the little wet body ex¬ 
posed to the cold air, when a part of it 
is removed in order to use the drying 
towel. If two widths of the material 
are used, sew the seam “ overhand” 
and loosely, so as not to leave an ugly 
ridge to annoy the bare s.dn. 

Regarding the shoulder blankets—it 
is customary to make them of a very 
nice piece of white flannel, or of white 
cashmere, and to trim them elaborate¬ 
ly. I have seem them so richly em¬ 
broidered that only a small square of 
the plain goods was visible in the cen¬ 
ter. Now I wish I could impress on 
mothers’ minds the foolishness of wast¬ 
ing time and strength and money in 
such work V It is worse than thrown 1 
away. To begin with, the blanket is , 


not necessary except during the first 
two months, and then it is an article of 
use, not of ornament, serving as a 
means of handling the tiny creature 
with greater ease and safety, and to 
protect the head and back of the neck 
from draughts. When baby becomes 
large enough to rebel against such 
confinements, and the blanket is off 
quite as often as it is on him, it does 
more harm than good, as he is apt to 
be covered when the room is too warm 
for comfort, and uncovered when some 
thoughtless person has left the door 
open. When such .a state of affairs ex¬ 
ists the blanket should be laid aside, 
and used only when, in carrying the 
baby from one room to another, he 
must go through a Jhall or room of a 
temperature very different from that 
to which he has been accustomed. A 
mother who has had experience knows 
how very soon a blanket used in that 
way becomes soiled, and how badly it 
looks, especially if it be one of the em¬ 
broidered affairs over which young 
women delight in ruining their eye¬ 
sight. Certainly, during the first few 
weeks of baby’s life, when he should 
not be seen except by relatives and the 
most intimate friends, an elaborate 
blanket is neither necessary nor desir¬ 
able. As a rule it is laid in the bureau 
drawer to be shown to admiring visit¬ 
ors, and the baby is wrapped in any 
piece of flannel that happens to be 
handy,and which can be easily washed— 
quite an item in its favor, as it is so oft¬ 
en soiled. 

Be reasonable! young mothers, do 
be reasonable! Use your eyes in read¬ 
ing some favorite author, or in admir¬ 
ing the beauties of nature,—you can 
take a great many morning walks dur¬ 
ing the time that would be spent in 
making that handsome blanket. Pro¬ 
vide some plain squares of white me¬ 
rino if you can get it, or of nice white 
flannel, and bind them with silk that 
will wash. There is a salmon-colored 
silk that washes well, and is very deli¬ 
cate and pretty. Have three of the 
blankets, so that they may be washed 
ofteo, for a baby wearing a sour-smell- 
ing blanket is not nice to handle. It 
wiil not be extravagance, for when the 
blankets are no longer useful as such, 
they can be used to good advantage in 
making other clothing for baby. More¬ 
over, counting time and everything, 
the first cost of the ■ three will be no 
greater than for the one elaborate 










54 


THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


blanket, and you will have the satis¬ 
faction of knowing that baby is not 
made uncomfortable by the lumpy 
leaves and flowers and stars of em¬ 
broidery. Now here is another little 
item of advice that I do not expect will 
be followed except by the most sensible 
of mothers. If your servant does not 
thoroughly understand how to wash 
white flannel without causing it to be¬ 
come stiff, and shrunken and yellow, 
and you cannot teach her, then be wise 
and select your blankets from softly 
tinted goods. They are really very 
pretty, and have been admired even by 
the ladies who think that babies should 
always be dressed in white. 

In washing baby’s flannels never use 
soap of any kind; they should not be 
allowed to become so soiled as to make 
it necessary to do so. Never let them 
lie around after having been removed; 
as they are not to be washed with other 
clothes, they need not wait until the 
regular wash-day, and it is a good plan 
to wash them at once ; but if that plan 
cannot be carried out, be sure to put 
them where they will be exposed to the 
air, and will not gather dirt. Use wa¬ 
ter just lukewarm, having the washing 
and rinsing water of the same tempera¬ 
ture. Shake the flannel well before put¬ 
ting it in water, and have enough dis¬ 
solved borax in the first water to make it 
feel very soft,also putting a little in the 
rinsing water. Bluing may or may not 
be added according to preference. 
However, if the flannel inclines to the 
creamy tint, it is made of a dirty, 
greenish hue by being dipped in bluing 
water. .Remember that the more quick¬ 
ly the washing, rinsing and drying is 
done, the more satisfactory will be the 
result. 

These last suggestions, while not ex¬ 
actly pertinent to the making of baby 
clothes, yet myy prove helpful to the 
mother who wishes to dress her little 
one all in white. 

The bed pad is a necessity that is 
provided in very few layettes. It 
should bo made of a square of un¬ 
bleached muslin, thickly padded with 
cotton batting, and securely tacked. 
It is to lay under the baby at night to 
protect the bedding, and should be so 
thick as to absorb all moisture. That 
renders unnecessary the putting on of 
so many diapers, that are as unliealth- 
ful as the}^ must be uncomfortable. 
Let us now have a little resume of the 
subject of the layette in such form that 


it will be of use to the little woman 
who is inexperienced, far from mother, 
and as afraid to ask the advice of 
friends as she is nervous for fear that 
everything will not be exactly right. 

People are becoming more sensible 
now in the matter of the layette as in 
that of the trousseau, and ridiculous 
extravagance is no longer aimed at. 
All that isdesirable is sufficient cloth¬ 
ing to keep the baby sweet and clean 
without too much work, and by getting 
along with fewer garments during the 
first weeks of his existence, a more 
complete wardrobe can be had when 
he begins to appear in company. This 
will be found to be a very economical 
and satisfactory plan, and we will as¬ 
sume that the little layette is to be pro¬ 
vided with that object in view. 

There should be three waists; one 
dozen outside diapers; one dozen inside 
diapers of canton flannel, and a dozen 
each made of soft old table linen, and of 
worn sheets; three pinning blankets; 
four flannel skirts; seven wrappers; 
one dressing-gown (when soiled it can 
be washed and dried during the day); 
three shoulder blankets; one bathing 
blanket; and six bed pads. A num¬ 
ber of those will be necessary because 
they require so long a time in which to 
become thoroughly dry after having 
been washed ; and ’ they should never 
be hung up and dried after using, until 
they are washed. Such a practice is 
not cleanly, to say the least. 

There should be provided several soft 
little comforts of cheese-cloth padded 
with a layer of the best cotton batting, 
then tied with pink or blue or scarlet 
wool, and made pretty with a crocheted 
edge of the same. These little comforts 
are handy to use in many ways, beside 
being light,. inexpensive, and easily 
made. They are needed to throw over 
baby when he sleeps, or to protect the 
dress of a visitor who wishes to hold 
him, or to wrap around him when he 
insists on being taken out of bed be¬ 
fore the room has become sufficiently 
warm. 

A toilet basket is almost as neces¬ 
sary a part of the layette as the baby’s 
clothes, as it saves many steps, and 
hastens the process of dressing, which 
most babies object to so decidedly. 
To,make it, procure a large, shallow 
basket, and cover it with pretty paper 
muslin. Sew it to the sides of the 
basket around the top. Cut a piece of 
pasteboard to fix exactly into the 







THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


bottom of the basket; cover that also 
with the paper cambric, and press it 
into place. It should fit so closely as 
to hold the cambric covering the 
sides of the basket firmly down with¬ 
out its being sewed to the bottom. 
Over all put dotted Swiss muslin in 
pleats, or shirred, or plain, as pre- 
feried. Turn the outside piece so as 
to form a hem at the bottom, then 
gather it into a ruffle, having just deep 
enough to touch the table. Put the 
muslin on the sides of the basket before 
putting the bottom piece in place. 
Edge the top and the bottom of the 
basket with narrow lace,or, if preferred, 
a narrow ruche of ribbon to match the 
paper cambric. In one corner of the 
basket put a pocket of oiled silk for 
the sponge. Around the top of the 
pocket sew a piece of bonnet wire to 
hold it open. In the center of each 
side have pockets of Swiss muslin, 
drawn in and tied with narrow ribbons, 
They will be found very useful, and 
are highly ornamental. In either end 
have a small square cushion edged 
with lace and fastened on with a bow. 
The cushions should be stuffed with 
curled hair, or some equally light sub- 
tance that the basket may not be too 
heavy. Eurnish the basket with a soft 
hairbrush, safety-pins, a powder puff, 
and a nice little soap dish with a tight¬ 
ly fitting cover — for no one else must 
be allowed to use the baby’s soap. - 

Quite pretty toilet baskets'are made 
of the long, narrow baskets that peach¬ 
es or grapes come in ;they are covered 
in the same way. 

Not until the layette is made and 
laid away, and the first clothes that 
baby is to wear made into a bundle by 
themselves, and put where they can 
be found at a moment’s notice, should 
attention be given to the garments 
that will be worn later on. Indeed, it 
is not necessary that they should be 
begun at all until the little* stranger 
has become a recognized member of the 
household, nor is it wise unless the 
mother is in need of some such occupa¬ 
tion to keep her from becoming nerv¬ 
ous. 

No little dresses or slips were men¬ 
tioned in enumerating the articles' for 
the layette, but it ia understood that 
the mother is going to dress her baby 
in the nice, plain, neat little wrappers 
day and night; these must be provided 
for the second quarter of baby’s first 
year, and there will be a great differ¬ 


ence of opinion legarding the fashion 
of making them. It really should de¬ 
pend a great deal on the baby, and 
that is one reason why it is wiser not 
to make them until you know what 
manner of baby he is. There are some 
babies so strong and active that they 
are better off and more easily cared 
for if put into short clothes at three 
month of age—that is, providing the 
weather is warm, or the house is of 
even temperature. 

As baby grows older and is handled 
more by the other members of the 
family, and especially when he becomes 
old enough to be on the floor, he will 
require a more frequent change of 
clothing. It is wise to make the little 
garments so large that they will not 
be outgrown long before they are worn 
out. If long slips are to replace the 
first little wrappers, they should be so 
made that they will only need a tuck 
or two to change them into short dress¬ 
es later on. Cambric, nainsook, linen 
lawn and mull are all used for slips; 
the first two for every-day wear, and 
the linen lawn and mull for best. They 
may be finished with tucks, a plain 
hem, laee,or a ruffle of fine embroidery, 
according to fancy. There should be 
no stiff ruffles or embroideries around 
the neck, and heavy trimmings any¬ 
where on the little garments are no 
longer considered in "good taste, and 
are used mostly by the vulgar. It gives 
me great satisfaction to write that, 
for it is such good news for the babies! 
But mothers must fuss a little over the 
cunning wardrobe, as Dame Fashion 
decrees that every garment shall be 
made by hand; no ugly machine- 
stitched seams are to be allowed; in¬ 
stead, the daintiest stitches, set by lov¬ 
ing fingers, and as much unnecessary 
needle-work beside, in the way of orna¬ 
mentation, as the mother wishes to do, 
but nothing heavy. 

A very convenient garment is made 
of soft flannel, and cut after the prin¬ 
cess pattern. The seams may be piped 
with some pretty contrasting color, and 
the bottom may be finished with deep 
scallops, worked with wash silk to 
match the pipings, and in each scallop 
a clover leaf, or other simple design. 
This garment is high in the neck and 
has long sleeves. It may be worn as 
a skirt, but is designed expressly for 
wear on hot summer days with no oth¬ 
er clothing but the waist and diaper. 
I have described one such garment 







5(; 


THE FAMILY DOCTOR ROOK , 


that was wofn by a happy little* baby 
of my acquaintance. It was made of 
a delicate shade of gray, and the pip¬ 
ings and embroidery were of red. She 
had another made of pale blue flannel 
with dark blue trimmings. She looked 
very pretty in both, and must have 
been comfortable. 

The cloak is most often made of cash- 
mere, and may be tinted or white, as 
preferred. Some of them are very 
elaborate, and are handsome when 
new; but after a little wear they be¬ 
come soiled, and then look quite as 
shabby as any other soiled finery, and 
much more so than plainer cloaks 
would. Line the cloak so that it will 
be comfortable; dispense with expen- I 
sive trimming, and spend the money 
thus saved on goods that will be worth 
making over into something else when 
the cloak is outgrown. I saw a very 
handsome cloak recently, made of 
heavy, all-wool dress goods costing a 
dollar and a half a yard. The color 
was a pearl gray. It was cut after a 
sacque pattern, and had a long cape 
gathered on a yoke and finished with 
a plain round collar. The cape and 
collar were lined with rose-pink silk, 
and the cloak was finished with bows 
of pink and pearl gray ribbon. The 
hood of swan’s-down was also trimmed 
with bows of pink and gray. 

Itisw 7 ellto make such clothing by 
hand, not simply because it happens to 
be fashiouable to do so, but because 
the seams are more easily ripped apart 
when baby wants larger clothes; and, 
because they soon have to be made 
larger, the seams should be taken deep, 
especially the under-arm seams. 

Stockings will be needed as soon as 
the pinning blanket is discarded ; before 
that they are only one more trial for 
the little martyr to get used to. Ba¬ 
bies should wear woolen stockings 
until they are three years of age. 
Those knitted at home of fine Saxony 
wool are the prettiest, warmest, and 
most economical in the long run. Knit¬ 
ted or crocheted boots should be worn 
with them at first, and afterward, moc¬ 
casins made of chamois are very com¬ 
fortable, convenient, and easily pro¬ 
cured. A child should not be com¬ 
pelled to wear leather shoes with stiff 
soles until he is at least a year and a 
half old. 

There is not much change in the 
style of baby’s dress until after the 
third year. The diaper should be dis¬ 


carded as soon as possible, and draw¬ 
ers substituted. The same style of 
waist as that described for the first 
wardrobe will do nicely until the child 
is too old to wear waists, but buttons 
must be added to fasten the drawers in 
front, behind, and at the sides. The 
elastics that support the stockings may 
also be fastened to the waist at first, 
but shoulder-brace stocking-support¬ 
ers are best for children over five years 
of age. 

Small, flat buttons should be used 
wherever possible until the child is four 
or five years old, as children are liable 
to be hurt when falling heavily on 
the large pointed or rounded ones. 

Make the little one's clothinga study, 
it is really a fascinating one. A child 
can be dressed prettily and yet sensi¬ 
bly. The clothing ought all to hang 
from the shoulders; it should be loose 
and fit easily—all parts of the body be¬ 
ing equally well protected, and in ac¬ 
cordance with the weather. These sug¬ 
gestions carefully observed and acted 
upon will bring gratifying results in 
the way of good health, and an even 
and serene temper. 


CHAPTER III. 
baby’s arrival. 

The time has arrived when the baby 
is to put in an appearance, and there is 
much excitement and nervousness. 
There is no need to write directions for 
the mother’s use at this time; there 
will be those present who will see to 
that. But the little one—how shall it 
be cared for ? If some of the recep¬ 
tions that have been given to babies, 
and by nurses who possess at least an 
average amount of intelligence, were 
to be described here exactly as they 
were conducted, the writer would be 
in danger of being accused of exag¬ 
geration—so heartless and devoid of 
common sense would they appear. 

A competent nurse should be en¬ 
gaged, so that, in case the doctor does 
not arrive in time, the necessary "work 
can be performed by skilled fingers. 
Baby should have one friend present 
in his behalf before the cord is cut that 
ushers him into an independent exist¬ 
ence. At that time most attention is 
apt to be paid to the mother, and the 
baby suffers in consequence. Some 
practitioners advance the theory that 
many people suffer through life from a 













THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


57 


heart-trouble caused by cutting the 
umbilical cord before it has ceased pul¬ 
sating; and their arguments in favor 
of ihat theory certainly sound plausible. 
Be sure the pulsations have ceased, 
then cut and tie the cord immediately. 
Before it is time to perform that task, 
however, examination must be made 
to see that the child’s mouth is not 
filled with mucous, which often pre¬ 
vents breathing. No one should be 
intrusted with the care of the baby 
immediately after his birth who can¬ 
not perform the service required intel¬ 
ligently. As soon as the cord is tied, 
baby should be carefully lifted in a 
towel, to prevent its slipping from the 
nurse’s grasp, and carried into another 
room where the temperature is as high 
as can be comfortably endured. No 
adult would enjoy being carried, in an 
undress condition, from a room where 
he had been confined for some time to 
one at least twenty degrees colder! 
Yet that is what the new-born baby is 
obliged to endure. Not only that, but 
he is usually carried into another de¬ 
gree of temperature still colder within 
half a hour, and bathed in water which 
may be of the same temperature as his 
body, and may not be, and all the 
while lying without the least protec¬ 
tion from the air, which striking the 
damp skin, produces a sensation that 
could not be endured by the strongest 
adult. Usually it ts not endured very 
patiently by baby, as his lusty cries 
testify; but nurse does not understand 
the meaning of his protest, and de¬ 
clares that he cries because he is hun¬ 
gry and must be fed. Sometimes sug¬ 
ar is done up in a rag, moistened with 
milk, and stuck into his mouth to keep 
him quiet until he can be tortured in 
the bath as long as the nurse thinks 
necessary, and he sucks down enough 
dyspepsia and colic to last a long time! 
Sometimes he is fed sweetened milk 
and water from a teaspooon, and then 
begins his first acquaintance with in¬ 
digestion. 

After the tender flesh is washed and 
wiped until it must feel raw to the 
bone, and the little joints have been 
twisted until they are nearly dislocated, 
and the wee bit of hair is brushed un¬ 
til the scalp smarts, and when the 
stomach is rebelling against the un¬ 
natural food poured into it, it seems as 
if it ought to occur to some one pres¬ 
ent that baby must be tired and ought 
to have a rest. But no! People are 


not thinking of the comfort of the help¬ 
less little stranger, but of gratifying a 
love of the sensation that comes to 
many women when a baby is born, and 
is to be seen for the first time. They 
cannot wait to let him rest, but carry 
him to the proud papa, who takes him 
awkwardly, perhaps treats him to his 
first smell of tobacco, tosses him a lit¬ 
tle because he does not know what else 
to do, then gives him back to nurse. 
She carries him to mamma, who hugs 
him and nearly smothers him with kiss¬ 
es, and then invites him to dinner. 
She has not yet had time to rest from 
the ordeal through which she has so 
recently passed; her pulse is bounding, 
and her nerves are all unstrung, and 
the food she has to offer certainly can¬ 
not be in very good condition, yet it is 
considered quite good enough for the 
poor little baby who cannot help him¬ 
self. 

Now, how much more sensible would 
be some such plan as the following: 
Make the mother comfortable, darken 
the room, and leave her entirely alone 
for a little while, that she may rest, 
and then give her a cupful of nice gru¬ 
el to drink before baby is brought to 
her. While she is resting the baby 
must be cared for in a room where the 
mother cannot hear him should he cry, 
and which, as has been said, is so warm 
that it is quite uncomfortable for the 
nurse. 

Hold him with his feet toward the 
fire, and so that the light cannot strike 
his face. Lubricate him all over with 
fresh lard that has been boiled in wa¬ 
ter, then skimmed off when cool. Some 
nurses use sweet oil, but the smell of 
it is unpleasant to many, and lard 
serves the same purpose, and, after be¬ 
ing boiled in water, is almost scentless. 
Use plenty of lard, and be sure that it 
is warm, but not hot, before applying 
it. Put it on as quickly as possible, 
and do not move the baby any more 
than is necessary; then cover him with 
the bath blanket, one end of which cov¬ 
ers the nurse’s lap, and hold him very 
still for a little while. The babv wiil 
be quite apt to enjoythat sort of treat¬ 
ment, and he may'go to sleep. He 
certainly will not cry, unless he is 
treated so carelessly that he is forced to 
protest. Please remember that he is 
not used to being trotted, or rocked 
headforemost on the nurse’s knee, and 
that it is not wise for him to have 
many new experiences the first day. 









58 


THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK . 


It is strange how few women there are ! 
who can be perfectly quiet while hold¬ 
ing a little child! 

After a time wipe off the lard with a 
soft cloth, that has been warmed until 
it feels comfortable when held to your 
own cheek; it will be found that very 
little of the viscid matter will be left 
on the bodj\ There is no use in keep¬ 
ing him uncovered while doing this, 
unless you have had so little experience 
that you are awkward. Now take a 
piece of soft linen about six inches 
square, and dip it into mutton suet 
that you have melted in a saucer, and 
which is just warm. A hole must first 
have been cut in the center of the iin- 
en, and through this hole draw the 
cord, folding the ends of the linen care¬ 
fully so that the cord is completely cov¬ 
ered, yet not compressed. Lay it up¬ 
ward on the abdomen and place over it 
a piece of very thin flannel doubled to 
form two thicknesses, and large enough 
to completely cover the linen. Now 
put a strip of old flannel loosely around 
the body, pinning it at the side. There 
is no necessity of turning the child 
over to do diis; it can be slipped u nder 
him so carefully as not to disturb him 
at all. The flannel should not be hem¬ 
med, and is only to be used until the 
child can be dressed. Put on one dia¬ 
per, composed of a single square of the 
old linen ; wrap him in one of his shoul¬ 
der blankets; pin it securely to keep it 
in place; over all put a spread made of 
the cheese-cloth, and then lay him 
where he can be warm, and perfectly 
quiet and shaded from the light. 

I know there are fastidious mothers 
who will hold up their hands in horror 
when they read this, and insist that the 
baby shall be washed and made decent 
the very first thing! This is not written 
for mothers of that class, but for those 
who are willing to learn, who consider 
the comfort of the baby as paramount 
to the gratification of their own vanity, 
and who try to realize how the little one 
must suffer under the treatment which 
he is usually forced to endure. 

When he begins to be restless carry 
him to his mother. She will be rested 
and ready to receive him. The food he 
now takes should be the first he re¬ 
ceives; it acts as a stimulant and a 
laxative, and is just what the baby 
needs. 

There are exceptional cases where the 
child must be given a little water in 
order to get the mucous from his throat, 


and sometimes when he is very weak, 
a few drops of whisky may be given as 
a stimulant. If the baby'is born dur¬ 
ing the night, it is far wiser not to 
bathe him until next daj 7 , and he should 
be handled as carefully as possible. If 
he cries, it is not because he wants 
some one to walk the floor with him, or 
rock him until he is dizzy, or place him 
in a different position every three min¬ 
utes. * 

In the matter of food most people 
seem to think that Nature forgot to 
provide for little babies, though they 
can see that the young of all other 
species is provided for. The mother 
has but little milk at first, but instead 
of taking that fact as a warning that 
baby needs but little, and must not be 
allowed to eat what he does not need, 
they immediately start the cry that 
baby is starving, and must be fed, and 
so his stomach is kept distended with 
food that it cannot digest. 

An old doctor said once, when asked 
what to do with a child that refused to 
nurse: “Let him alone until he gets 
hungry. I’ll warrant he gets enough 
to keep him from starving. In fact, 
you would not find it easy to starve a 
new-boru baby to death. It is much 
easier to kill them by overfeeding.” 

Baby must have his first bath. Se¬ 
lect a time for it about half way be¬ 
tween meals, the next morning after 
his arrival. He is rested then, and 
has gained considerable strength, and, 
beside, is becoming used to being 
handled. Make all preparations for 
the bath before disturbing him. Be 
sure that the room is warm enough, 
that the water is of the right tempera¬ 
ture (you can determine that by plung¬ 
ing your elbow into it), and that baby’s 
clothes and toilet basket are at hand. 
Remember that the skirt and wrapper 
selected for his wear at first must but¬ 
ton in front: then the sleeves of the 
skirt can be put into the sleeves of the 
wrapper and both garments put on at 
once, and baby will have to be moved 
less often. Be sure that the blanket is 
warm and well aired. You, of course, 
washed it out at once after using it 
around the dirty little new-comer, and 
hung it by the kitchen fire where it 
would dry, in readiness for the first 
bath. It will require but a moment to 
remove the shoulder blanket pinned 
around him, and take off the dressing 
from the navel. Borne nurses do not be¬ 
lieve in doing that so soon, but I think. 






THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


59 


it is wiser, for then you can be sure 
whether all is going well or not. 

Whether to put the baby into the 
bath-tub or bathe him while he lies in 
your lap is the question that must be 
decided in favor of the way in which 
you can be most expeditious, and ex¬ 
pose him least to the cold air. If he 
is to lie in your lap, he must be bathed 
entirely under one-half of the bath 
blanket. It seems so strange that 
nurses can see the necessity of taking 
that precaution when bathing an in¬ 
valid, but not when bathing a little ba¬ 
by ! 

The easiest way, according to my 
notion, is to have just enough water 
in the bath-tub to cover the baby when 
he is laid into it. Wet his head first, 
then lay him into the tub and keep his 
head above water by placing your left 
hand under his neck. Have the bath¬ 
tub on a chair facing you, and spread 
the bath blanket over the back of the 
chair. That you may judge whether 
these directions are sensible or not, 
just apply them to yourself. Do you 
feel as comfortable when half under 
water as when the water reaches to 
your chin? To be sure you do not, so 
do not bathe your baby in a wash-bowl 
where only part of him can be im¬ 
mersed at a time. A very good-nat¬ 
ured baby may submit to a wash-bowl 
without protest, but it is not fair to 
compel him to do so. A tin bath-tub 
long enough to lay baby down in does 
not cost so much that it cannot be af¬ 
forded by nearly all mothers. If the 
water is of the right temperature, baby 
will enjoy lying in it; but do not keep 
him in a moment longer than is neces¬ 
sary to get him clean. When that is 
accomplished, throw the blanket over 
the tub in such a manner that, as you 
lift him from the water, he will be 
completely covered, and lay him in 
your lap. A little practice will make 
you so dexterous that you can manage 
to lay him on one-half of the blanket 
while the other half covers him, and 
the blanket folds over toward you; 
then you can get at him with ease. I 
know one lady who practiced lifting a 
large and very limp doll from an im¬ 
aginary tub in a chair, until she be¬ 
came quite proficient. 

There may be those who, in reading 
this, will think that too much atten¬ 
tion is given to details. But if they 
have ever been near a screaming baby 
who was being tortured by his first 


bath, and then could see that same 
child when he had become used to be¬ 
ing properly bathed, they would recog¬ 
nize the necessity of lessons that will 
help mothers to do fhe better way. A 
baby who has been bathed in the old, 
thoughtless way will not at first sub¬ 
mit to ever so great an improvement 
without his usual vigorous protest, be¬ 
cause he has a vivid remembrance of 
what he has endured, and is so full of 
apprehensions that he does not realize 
that he is being better treated. There 
is no reason why a child should cry 
when being bathed if he is handled 
carefully, bathed in water of the prop¬ 
er temperature, and not allowed to be¬ 
come chilled. 

The baby under the bath blanket is 
now being wiped dry, with a soft linen 
cloth, and rubbed a little, gently, with 
nurse’s warm hand to preventany pos¬ 
sible prickling or crawling sensations. 
Then the navel is dressed exactly as it 
was at first, but instead of the strip of 
flannel being used to hold the navel¬ 
dressing in place, it is held by the 
waist which fits just ciosety enough to 
keep it from slipping and to form a 
gentle support of the abdomen when 
baby cries. 

JUany doctors now claim that no 
dressing of the sort is at all necessary ; 
that the navel dries up faster and heals 
better without it, and they also claim 
that the new-born baby should be 
.dressed simply in a plain, loose flannel 
wrapper and a diaper, But, though 
they have a great deal of sense on their 
side of the question, they are not go¬ 
ing to have any followers for some 
time. There are many mothers who 
object to having their babies compared 
to puppies and kittens even in re¬ 
gard to the necessity of wearingaband 
tightly pinned about the little bodies. 
All reforms must move slowly, so we 
will dress the navel as directed, and 
put on baby’u other garments. 

The powder puff is used, but not too 
liberally. The little creases must not 
be filled with enough of the powder to 
form into a paste when it becomes 
moist. For t.t least a week none but 
the soft linen diapers should be used 
on baby, and but one at a time. In 
dressing him in this way he need only 
be turned on his face once—when the 
waist is fastened—and his arms need 
be moved but twice. It is really a 
short piece of work to give baby his 
bath, and after it he will usually be 




CO 


Till: FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


very good until it is time for him to 
have luncheon. 

In this little talk an effort has been 
made to give the lessons so plainly 
that the most inexperienced can care 
for a baby more intelligently than 
many poor little ones are cared for at 
present. Much depends on everything 
being done right at first. 

Do not try to press the head into ' 1 
shape when there is a malformation 
caused by a difficult birth. It will 
come all right if left alone, but, if inter¬ 
fered with, serious trouble may result. 
This should be impressed on the mind 
of the young mother, as there are so 
many old ladies who will try to con¬ 
vince her that baby’s head will never 
be shapely unless she makes it so. 

Great care must be taken that the 
navel takes its proper place as it heals. 
If it begins to protrude, take a cork 
and whittle it to a blunt point -so that 
it resembles a small acorn only not 
quite so pointed; cover it with linen 
and use it to hold the navel in place, 
fastening it firmly with strips of court- 
plaster, and with the waist over all, 

4 * 


CHAPTER IY. 

CARE OF BABY. 

On the first day of baby’s life begin 
to teach him regular habits, and be 
sure that you do not teach him bad 
ones. Many a child has been pun¬ 
ished, many a mother’s days made 
miserable because of habits that she 
herself taught him when she thought 
him too young to learn anything. Do 
not make that mistake; babies are 
creatures of habit just as older people 
are, and they begin to lea n from the 
hour of their birth. At this time they 
know nothing about being rocked, or 
carried about the room, or taken up 
and talked to the moment they open 
their eyes, or being fed at all manner 
of hours; nor need they ever think that 
such treatment is a necessary part of 
their existence, unless they are taught 
to so regard it. 

Perfect rest, suitable food, and plenty 
of warmth are all that a baby wants 
during the first weeks of his life,and he 
will not cry if his wants are all sup¬ 
plied. 

From the first the baby should be 
fed regularly, and bathed regularly 
and put to sleep regularly. He should 
not be taken up and played with when 


he is quietly looking around him, un¬ 
less you really wish to keep up the 
practice through his boyhood. Nei¬ 
ther will you walk with him,if you are 
wise, for the same reason. Remember 
that it will not benefit him; at the 
start he does not cry to be walked with, 
although he very soon gets into a hab¬ 
it of doing so. 

When he begins to cry do not get 
panic-stricken. You would not if you 
knew what a ridiculous figure you cut 
to the observer who is not alarmed or 
made nervous by the crying of a baby. 
It is not uncommon to see a whole 
household thrown into the utmost con¬ 
fusion by a baby’s attempt to express 
himself, and their ineffectual, because 
purposeless, efforts to quiet him are 
really ludicrous. Let us imagine our¬ 
selves in his place, but enjoying (?) ex¬ 
ercises which, compared with his, are 
in proportion to our size and strength. 

In the first place something has hap¬ 
pened to make us uncomfortable, for 
which we are not in the least responsi¬ 
ble and which we have not sense 
enough to bear quietly. We are in pain 
from the effects of overeating, or from 
having eaten that which does not agree 
with us. We all know the feeling, and 
can imagine how* we would enjoy the 
following course of treatment; First: 
tossed violently in a blanket, which 
would be about the same as the trot¬ 
ting process that a baby has to endure. 
Second : carried in a mad race around 
the room, subject to a bewildering 
number of turns, and a sudden jounce 
when least expecting it. Third : pat¬ 
ted on the back with a mallet. Fourth ; 
turned suddenly and without warning 
on the face, and swung violently back 
and forth, head foremost. Fifth: 
rocked until we are dizzy. Sixth: 
turned over to a fresh tormentor who 
goes through the same course of treat¬ 
ment followed by his weary successor. 
Seventh: compelled to swallow food 
until we can hold no more. Eighth: 
gagged with a mixture of indigestion- 
producing stuff tied up in a rag. I im¬ 
agine we would think ourselves very 
greatly abused. 

A baby is really better natured than 
an adult, for he seldom cries over im¬ 
aginary woes. If he is not hungry or 
tired or cold, if his clothing is comfort¬ 
able and his food agrees with him, if 
he has not been allowed to eat too 
much or at irregular intervals, and if 
he has not been made nervous by over- 














THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


Cl 


excitement, lack of sleep, or too 
much handling by strangers, he is not 
going to cry. The mother and nurses 
are at fault if he does cry, for they have 
no right to let him be abused in any of 
the ways suggested. It is their busi¬ 
ness to protect him, and the penalty 
they have to pay in nights of sleep¬ 
lessness and days of wearisome baby¬ 
tending when they neglect that duty is 
none too great, and would seem, to 
baby’s sympathizers, a desirable little 
bit of justice, were the baby also not 
obliged to suffer. 

Through some carelessness of nurse 
or mother, baby has occasion to com¬ 
plain, and does so as lustily as he is 
able. Now, don’t get excited! Think, 
quickly, of the events of the day, to 
discover a key to the complaint that 
you may give relief. He is your pa¬ 
tient; you are physician, and he has a 
right to expect intelligent treatment, 
and a right to be wrathy if he does not 
get it. If you allow yourself to be¬ 
come nervous you are only going to 
make matters worse. It is not so very 
difficult for one who has the entire 
charge of a baby to discover where the 
trouble lies, and it should not be diffi¬ 
cult fcr her to find the proper remedy. 
And here let me say that it is cruel to 
give a little child into the care of half 
a dozen people. He is sure never to be 
half cared for. I am aware that many 
children have lived under such treat¬ 
ment, but no sensible person will pre¬ 
tend to argue from that fact that it is 
desirable, or that a different method 
might not be adopted which would re¬ 
sult in added comfort to baby and all 
concerned, or that the statistics of in¬ 
fant mortality might not be made iess 
startling. Men have lived through the 
hanging process ; but we would not use 
that fact as an argument in favor of 
hanging as a'sort of gymnastic exer¬ 
cise. 

Nor is it any more sensible to say that 
because such treatment has not warped 
the natures and ruined the intellect¬ 
ual powers of the entire human family 
that a more reasonable course might 
not raise the standard of the human 
race to a satisfactory degree. At any 
rate, it can do no harm to assume that 
it will, or to keep on repeating the les¬ 
sons taught by those who are entitled 
to the name of professor in such mat¬ 
ters, until the dulled ears of mothers 
shall begin to recognize the truth, and 
they are induced to try experiments 


for themselves with a reason as the in¬ 
centive to each experiment. 

It is more difficult to properly train 
a child when the hereditary tendencies 
and prenatal influences have been 
undesirable; yet I do hot wish the 
mother, whose eyes have just opened 
to her mistakes, to imagine that now 
there is nothing left for her but to bow 
before the inevitable. On the con¬ 
trary, her exertions must be doubled, 
for she not only must try to overcome 
evil tendencies, but to supplant them 
by those which are good.. 

'The principles taught by Professor 
Fowler might be found very suggest¬ 
ive in this connection; for, though he 
is often accused of being an extremist, 
and it is a fact that one who should un¬ 
dertake to carry out his ideas would be 
in danger of insanity, yet no one who 
reads him carefully will doubt that his 
theories, in general,are based on truth. 
We wiil convert one of , them into a 
nice, little, every-day lesson to be used 
as an illustration. Suppose your boy 
gives evidence of having been born 
with an ungovernable temper—a well 
defined organ of temper we will call it. 
You must not add to it by furnishiug 
him with opportunities of displaying 
his infirmity—but rather let it becomr 
inactive r from want of use, and trail 
the organs of cheerfulness and self-con 
trol and good-nature until they dom 
inato the undesirable one. 

It is easy to be good-natured whei 
there is nothing to provoke ill-nature 
that every one admits. That it is pos 
sible to get into a habit of being good 
natured no one will den3*; and tha 
habit has great influence over man i 
equally undeniable. Then if the evil 
of ill-temper are firmly impressed on 
the mind, and precautions are taken to 
build resistances against the tempta¬ 
tion to be ill-tempered, the person in 
question will be quite sure to be fairly 
good-natured. I believe this to be true 
of all other of the human character¬ 
istics, and that, by thoughtlessness in 
training, a child’s mental and moral 
characteristics may be made undesir¬ 
able. 

“ Not one baby in a thousand is 
properly fed,” said a physician one 
day, “and it is a good thing for the 
doctors that they are not. Why,” he 
added, “ it is my firm belief that if every 
child that comes into the world during 
the next twenty years were to properly 
fed for the first ten years of his life, a 




THE FAMILY HOC TOE BOOK. 


02 


large proportion of the doctors would 
have to seek some other occupation.” 

“And we, lawyers, too,” answered 
his friend, “ and more especially if the 
proper feeding were to be continued 
fora few years, for nothing so surely 
produces bad blood and quarrelsome 
tendencies as a disordered stomach.” 

Mrs Henry Ward Beecher says that 
few people have any clear idea of what 
infants suffer simply from an insuffi 
cient amount of food—that they cry 
quite as often from starvation as from 
colic, and that there are many moth¬ 
ers of the present day who are not 
able to supply nourishment sufficient 
for the health} 7 grow r th of their children, 
without feeding them in part from the 
bottle. She has in mind the city moth- 
' ers who are robbed of physical strength 
By the excitement, dissipation, and 
nervous exhaustion of city life, not the 
women who live on farms. 

It is better for the child to be left as 
nature intended, unassisted by artifi¬ 
cial methods, and the mother should 
do all she can to lit herself for nourish¬ 
ing the helpless little being that is so 
dependent on her. She must remem¬ 
ber that the food she eats is the food, 
that nourishes baby, and so, for its 
ike, if not for her own, she should ab- 
iain from highly spiced food, pickles, 
imulating drinks, confectionery, and 
1 else that takes her appetite and re- 
lys her with a fit of indigestion. If, 
ffore the baby’s birth, she ate but lit- 
B bone-making food, she must make 
iat loss good now; and there is no 
ay in which she can do it as safely 
id sowell as by nursing him herself, 
have very little respect for that motli- 
• who, to gratify a depraved appetite, 
.. ill deliberately rob her babe of that 
which no one else can give him, and 
what he cannot do without. 

Not only in regard to the food she 
eats must the nursing mother be care¬ 
ful ; if she takes cold, or is ill in any 
way, if she suffers from indigestion, 
or loss of sleep, or nervousness,or from 
overwork, or worry, or too great ex¬ 
citement, the baby must suffer too, 
though, perhaps, in a way so different 
that she might never suspect the cause. 
Whatever greatly affects the mother, 
either physically or mentally, is sure 
to affect the child in a greater or less 
degree. The mother has no more right 
to ignore that fact, and persist in do¬ 
ing what is most satisfactory to her¬ 
self, than she would have to inflict tort¬ 


ure on an adult, or to eiftice him into 
the paths of sin simply because it was 
easier for her to do so than not. 

The influence that the nursing moth¬ 
er has over her child is almost as strong 
in the woman who nurses a child not 
her own. This should be thought of 
by mothers who conclude to hire a wet 
nurse. A woman should be chosen 
who is strong and robust, rather than 
fat. She must be free from hereditary 
tendency to mental or physical disease. 
It is better that she should not nurse 
another child at the same time, and 
she should be willing to eat only such 
food as would agree with the little one 
given into her care. Women between 
twenty-two and thirty-five years of age 
make the best wet nurses. The nurse 
should be of a cheerful disposition, 
have regular habits, and should not be 
allowed to overwork. 

A medical journal tells of a mother 
who attended the funeral of a friend, 
taking her baby with her. He became 
fretful, and she nursed him to quiet 
him, all the while crying bitterly. 
When getting ready for the drive to the 
cemetery, she noticed that her baby 
looked sick and went home with him. 
In less than two hours he was dead. 

Numerous instances have been re¬ 
corded of children who have been 
thrown into spasms from being nursed 
when the mother was angry, or sad, or 
otherwise greatly excited, and it seems 
as if they had become so common that 
mothers might be more careful. 

I once heard a mother say : <l I ought 
not to have eaten that cabbage to-day, 
for baby is always sick when I eat it; 
but it was so good that I just couldn’t 
help it!” 

That mother often remarked that she 
loved her baby better than herself, but 
certainly her actions did not go to 
prove any such assertion. What made 
her conduct still more unpardonable 
was the fact that she knew very well 
the influence of the nursing mother on 
the child, and how clearly it was prov¬ 
en in her case, for she always doctored 
her baby by taking the remedies her¬ 
self that she thought he needed, and 
after having eaten the cabbage, she 
tried to lessen the little one’s pain in 
the same way. 

When it is"known that the child can 
be so greatly affected by the mother in 
her undesirable moods, there is no 
reason to doubt that her pleasant ones 
also affect him; therefore, she should 







THE FAMILY DOCTOR BOOK. 


63 


I 


endeavor to be calm, and to think her 
happiest thoughts when nursing her 
baby, and for some time before. She 
can, at least, refrain from nursing him 
until she has had time to recover some' 
what from her fit of ^rief or anger; for 
it is better that he snould go hungry 
for a time than that he should eat such 
food as she can offer him. If the at¬ 
tack of excitement has been severe, the 
breasts should be emptied by a breast- 
pump or otherwise, and the infant not 
allowed to nurse until they fill again 
under more favorable circumstances. 

Usually the quantity of the mother’s 
millrls not so deficient as the quality ; 
and, if the baby frets while nursing, or 
wants to nurse oftener than he should, 
she should at once take measures to 
find out if he is being sufficiently 
nourished. 

Dr. Verdi says that the mother’s 
milk, to be good, should be white, 
sweet, opaque, and of a very pleasant 
taste. It contains globules of fat or 
butter, caseine or cheese, sugar of 
milk, salts, and a little yellow matter. 
A drop of good milk on a plate of glass 
will not run off easily; it will maintain 
a globular form, and adhere somewhat 
to the glass. That is not so with milk 
deprived of its solids; it will run off 
quicker than water, on the slightest 
inclination of the glass. 

If it is found the milk is insufficient 
for the child, other food must be given 
it. Under such circumstances it is 
wiser and more convenient to nurse it 
during the day and give it the bottle 
at night, as the mother can get better 
rest, Which is necessary to make her 
milk good. If possible, find out what 
necessary properties of food are lacking 
in the mother’s milk, and supply them 
in the other food given it; this may be 
done very successfully in the cases 
which often occur where cows’ milk 
will not agree with the mother’s milk 
in baby’s stomach. 

“ It is so hard to bring up a bottle- 
fed baby!” How often we hear the 
cry, and it certainly is not easy. Noth¬ 
in g 'can be easily done in a way op¬ 
posite to that which Nature intended, 
yet many things might be more easily 
done than they are, as well as more 
successfully, if common sense in the 
care of babies could only be taught to 
girls'. Instead, they never give the 
subject a thought until they are mar¬ 
ried and have a baby of their-own to 
practice on, and the poor little thing 


must suffer while the mother is learm 
ing from experience how to care for it. 

With bottle-fed babies more care 
must be taken to feed them properly 
than is necessary when tne mother 
nurses them ; but it should not be with¬ 
held, for great care in feeding will re¬ 
sult in much less care being necessary 
in other respects, and in the happiness 
of having a healthy, laughing baby, 
instead of a sickly, crying one. 

As long as young people persist in 
marrying without giving any thought 
to the welfare of the babies that are 
very likely to come into their homes, 
just so long will there be mothers who 
are unfit to or incapable of nursing 
their babies, and just so long must 
there be bottle-fed babies. A woman 
of scrofulous constitution, addicted to 
recurring diseases of the skin, or one 
subject to hereditary diseases, should 
not nurse her baby—neither is she fit 
to be married—for it will stand a bet¬ 
ter chance of having health if brought 
up on the bottle. 

To begin with, provide two bottles 
and tubes for the baby, and use them 
alternately, keeping the one not in use 
in a bowl of cold water until it is 
needed again. Scald both bottles and 
the tubes every night and morning, 
for baby’s health depends a great deal 
on the cleanliness of the bottle, which, 
when uncared for, so soon collects the 
tiny, health-destroying germs. 

A vigorous child should be fed every 
two hours during the first weeks of its 
life, then every three hours, and after 
the tenth month every four hours. It 
should be fed regularly, and should 
not be allowed to have any food at all 
between meals. This rule is for the 
day-time only. At night it should not 
be fed so often, and should be taught 
at as early an age as possi ble to sleep 
all night without food. That,of course, 
will depend a great deal on the nature 
and physical condition of the child. 
Many babies have been taught to sleep 
all night without food before they were 
nine months of age, and no baby of 
that age should be fed more than once 
between nine o’clock in the evening 
and five in the morning. 

Never give a child food to stop its 
crying. If you feed it regularly, and 
give it proper food, it need never cry 
because it is hungry. She is a very 
foolish mother who will give her child 
an opportunity to cry from such a 
cquse, and must be anxious to tend a 










G1 


—r* 


THE FA M1L Y I) 0 GT 


BOOK. 


peevish baby. If you have fed it prop 
erly and it cries, it is not because it 
wants more food, but for some entirely 
different reason. To be sure more food 
may serve to stupefy it, rendering it 
less conscious of its trouble, but is 
that a wise course to pursue? Usually 
he cries again when he recovers from 
his stupefaction, and either he must 
be stupefied again, or means must be 
adopted that should have been used in 
the first place, and which would not 
have tended to give the child objec¬ 
tionable habits. 

Some nurses consider it a good sign 
when baby throws up his milk, but 
it is simply an indication that he lias a 
stomach strong enough to rebel, when 
overloaded, and relieve itself. It is no 
sign at all that it will always remain 
strong enough to relieve itself, though 
itwill never cease to rebel when abused. 
When a child throws up its food it is 
an infallible sign than its mother does 
not know how to feed it; but somehow 
that sign receives very little consider¬ 
ation from our honored grandmothers. 
Tell them of it and they say “ our 
babies lived through it”—the old, 
worn-out argument! So their babies 
did, but they were unfit to have babies 
of their own who could “ live through 
it,” and every year we have more and 
more nervous, dyspeptic people whose 
parents and grandparents “ lived 


through it,” and the infant mortality 


who 


proves that there are more babies 
could not “ live through it.” 

Cows’ milk is most generally used 
for bottle-fed babies, as it is the most 
easily procured, and it is a very good 
substitute if properly given. It con¬ 
tains about four times as much caseine, 
albumen and albumenoids as wom¬ 
an’s milk, and less sugar; consequent¬ 
ly there is four times as much coagu- 
lable material in the cows’milk. The 
acid gastric juice in the stomach coag¬ 
ulates the cows’ milk into hard masses 
difficult to digest, while the woman’s 
milk is formed into a loose, light mass 
readily attacked and broken down. 
The result of this difference, as maybe 
readily seen, must greatly affect the 
digestion. These properties of the 
cows’ milk must be altered in order 
that it may become a good substitute 
for the natural food. The quantity of 
caseine must be decreased, and the 
sugar and fal. increased. Practically 
the caseine may be reduced by diluting 







_ *7- 

the milk with water, and' the fats and 
sugar increased by adding cream and 
sugar of milk. The tendency to firm 
coagulation may be obviated by add- 
inn lime water or barley water. Only 
sugar of milk should be used in food 
for babies, as any other sugar is apt to 
cause acidity. The milk must be di¬ 
luted according to the digestive power 
of the child’s stomach. -Some babies 
require much less nourishment than 
others, and would become ill on food 
that other babies would thrive on. 

Begin by adding an equal quantity 
of water to the milk, and then add less 
water as baby shows that he can take 
more nourishment without suffering. 
There are few babies under six months 
of age who can take undiluted milk; 
and it is said that there are some wdio 
can never take milk at all. I have al¬ 
ways believed that such need not be 
the case if they were fed it properly in 


sp Cl. 


the first place; but when a baby’s stom¬ 


ach once gets out of order, it is not 
easily made well again. Such babies 
are very hard to bring up, because it 
is difficult to know just v 7 hat to feed 
them. When, however, you have dis¬ 
covered the food best suited to them, 
they are often less trouble than other 
babies. 

I have found few mothers who were 
greatly in favor ofv the baby-foods so 
freely advertised, but many having de¬ 
cided objections to them. They should 
be used only when prescribed by a doc¬ 
tor who knows the child’s peculiarities, 
and who has had sufficient experience 
in caring for sick babies to make his 
opinion worth a second thought. It 
will be noticed that, as a rule, the old 
doctors w r lro have had babies of their 
own are not the best friends to the 
manufacturers of the baby-foods, all 
of which are warranted to be as good * 
as, if not better, than the mother’s 
milk. 

One doctor who has been very suc¬ 
cessful in prescribing for sick babies . 
recommends food made from lentil- 
powder as best for babies, next to their 
natural nourishment. A dessert-spoon¬ 
ful of the lentil-powder is soaked for 
half an hour in a gill of water, then 
half a pint of water is added, and the 
food is boiled for two hours, skimming v 
it as it needs it. When done, there 
must be a pint and a quarter of the v 
food. A little sugar of milk may be 
added. 











































